Endpoints News

Alladapt Immunotherapeutics, a well-financed biotech working in the food allergy field, shut down following talks with the FDA, according to a source familiar with the company. https://lnkd.in/eT2ZPyQN

Idorsia said it is narrowing its operations with 270 positions at risk of elimination. The potential layoffs will most likely impact its R&D arm and support functions at its headquarters in Allschwil. https://lnkd.in/eV75ya7b

Ever since the rise of AI scribes, I've been wondering what the next big AI healthcare application might be. The most common answer I've been getting lately: AI phone calls. I wrote about it in today's edition of the Endpoints News Health Tech newsletter. Plus: - When to expect an update on the lawsuit between compounders and the FDA - I spoke with Dan Mendelson about Morgan Health's latest investment + more! I love getting to work on this newsletter, so thank you all so much for reading and subscribing! Happy Thanksgiving! https://lnkd.in/gAtS_ZEg

After inking an up to $6 billion partnership with Poseida Therapeutics in 2022, Roche is now paying $1 billion upfront to acquire all of its off-the-shelf cell therapy and genomic medicines partner. The Swiss pharma giant is gaining a pipeline of oncology, autoimmune and neurology treatment candidates. “We do really think this is only the beginning. And when you think about it this way, then the answer becomes almost a foregone conclusion that there is so much complementarity, there is so much potential, we should become one,” Aviv Regev, head of research and early development at Genentech, said in an interview with Endpoints News. #roche #poseida #sandiegobiotech #biotech #pharma #biotechacquisition #allogeneic #offtheshelf #celltherapy #genomicmedicines #multiplemyeloma #hemophiliaa #hereditaryangioedema

NEW: Cradle Bio has raised a $73 million Series B round, fueling its plans to sell its AI-based protein-making software to more drugmakers. The 43-employee startup based in Zurich and Amsterdam is now working with 21 customers working on 31 protein projects, predominantly in the therapeutics space. “We think this is the right time to start bringing this to every lab in the world,” CEO Stef van Grieken told me. Also worth noting that Cradle hasn't published on any of its AI research or models, making it hard to assess how its work stacks up with the fast-moving field. “The focus has really been on building product and less on interacting with review committees,” van Grieken said. “We will publish more, we just haven’t done that to date.” My latest for Endpoints News:

SCOOP: The Trump transition team was still searching for its next National Institutes of Health director as recently as last week. That search included multiple calls gauging the interest of Moncef Slaoui, a longtime pharmaceutical executive at GSK who led Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s Covid-19 vaccine effort. A source familiar with the matter tells me that Slaoui was called last Thursday by people leading the transition, in an attempt to get him to reconsider the NIH spot. Slaoui said he was not interested, and volunteered other names who might be a good fit to lead the huge health research organization, the source said. My latest for Endpoints News on the last remaining big healthcare appointment in the next Trump admin:

Biohaven’s stock fell in premarket trading on Monday after it announced a Phase 3 trial failure of its myostatin inhibitor in spinal muscular atrophy and obesity. https://lnkd.in/eqPTDDSN

Incyte’s monoclonal antibody Monjuvi reduced certain follicular lymphoma patients’ risk of progression, relapse or death by 57% compared to placebo, the company announced Monday. https://lnkd.in/et4qdqit

Biotech startup Enveda has raised a $130 million Series C. https://lnkd.in/gd6kax3K

Tiny startup Nabla Bio posted a preprint Thursday highlighting its progress in creating antibodies from scratch that look therapeutically viable against some hard-to-drug targets in what it’s calling a first for the field. https://lnkd.in/gJSF_q7B