BioPharma Updates, September 1st, 2025.
SciLeads’ BioPharma is updated daily, giving our clients the most current insights on biopharma organizations, including Funding, Initial Public Offerings, Mergers & Acquisitions, Partnerships, and more. This week’s updates are below, with links to the organizations in the platform. If you don’t have BioPharma yet, start your free trial today.
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Funding
- ProVerum (Dublin, Ireland) raised $80M in Series B funding to advance commercialization of its ProVee® System, a minimally invasive treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
- Plexium (CA, USA) raised $60.1 M in funding to advance its protein degrader pipeline, including further development of PLX-4545 and PLX-61639 for oncology indications.
- Vaxxas (Brisbane, Australia) raised ~$59M in Series D funding and debt funding to scale up manufacturing and advance commercialization of its high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) technology for needle-free vaccine delivery.
- Lighthouse Pharmaceuticals (CA, USA) received a $49.2M National Institute on Aging grant to support a Phase 2 clinical trial of its lysine-gingipain inhibitor LHP588 in Alzheimer’s disease patients with confirmed P. gingivalis infection.
- Leal Therapeutics (MA, USA) raised $30M in Series A funding to advance LTX-002 for ALS and LTX-001 for schizophrenia into clinical development.
- Osivax (Lyon, France) received $19.5M in BARDA funding to advance development of OVX836, its broad-spectrum influenza A vaccine candidate designed to provide long-lasting protection against circulating and emerging strains.
- Incyclix Bio (NC, USA) raised $11.25M in Series B extension funding to support its ongoing Phase 1/2 trial of INX-315 in patients with CDK4/6 inhibitor–resistant ER+/HER2- breast cancer or CCNE1-amplified solid tumors.
- EnsiliTech (Bristol, United Kingdom) raised $5.9M in Seed funding to scale its Ensilication technology, which stabilises vaccines and biologics at room temperature and eliminates the need for cold-chain storage.
- Baxiva (Schlieren, Switzerland) received $3M from CARB-X to advance development of its multivalent glycoconjugate vaccine targeting E. coli infections.
- Avasa (Auckland, New Zealand) raised $2.9M in pre-Series A funding to advance FDA clearance and prepare market launch of the Avasa Coupler, a device designed to simplify and standardize arterial reconnections in reconstructive microsurgery.
- Marginum (Kuopio, Finland) raised $2.7M in Pre-Series A funding to advance FDA clearance and international launch of its HIVEN® fluorescence-based tissue monitoring device for safer brain tumour surgery.
- Rhovica Neuroimaging (Bern, Switzerland) raised ~$2.6M in funding to advance development of SoNav™, its bedside navigation system for extraventricular drainage (EVD) catheters used in emergency neurosurgery.
- BriaCell Therapeutics (PA, USA) received a $2.05M National Cancer Institute grant to complete manufacturing of Bria-PROS+ and support a Phase 1/2a trial in metastatic prostate cancer.
- Minovia Therapeutics (Haifa, Israel) received a $350K grant to develop novel blood-based mitochondrial biomarkers to identify patients for its mitochondrial augmentation technology and enable follow-up after treatment.
Emerging
- Arnatar Therapeutics (CA, USA) emerged from stealth with $52M in Series A funding to develop RNA-based therapies, including ART4 for Alagille Syndrome, which has received FDA Orphan Drug and Rare Pediatric Disease designations.
- Reconnect Labs (Zurich, Switzerland) emerged from stealth with ~$24M in equity and non-dilutive funding to advance its AI- and neuroscience-driven pipeline of regenerative therapies for psychiatric disorders including PTSD, addiction, and anxiety.
- Therna Biosciences (CA, USA) emerged from stealth with $10M in seed funding to pioneer programmable RNA medicines using deep RNA biology and generative AI to enhance translation efficiency, tissue specificity, durability, and immune evasion.
- Lumaegis (TX, USA) raised $200K in pre-seed funding to advance FDA De Novo certification and prepare for market launch of its RadBox sterilization device, a solid-state lighting-based alternative to traditional sterilizers.
- Alovance (Tel Aviv, Israel) emerged from stealth to launch a novel drug delivery system for hair loss designed to improve penetration, stability, and scalability in topical therapeutics.
Post IPO Equity
- Wugen (MO, USA) announced the closing of a $115M equity financing to advance the pivotal T-RRex trial of its off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy WU-CART-007 in relapsed/refractory T-ALL and T-LBL, with a BLA filing targeted for 2027.
- iBio, Inc. (CA, USA) announced the closing of a $50M underwritten public offering to advance preclinical cardiometabolic programs and support general corporate purposes.
- OmniAb, Inc. (CA, USA) raised $30M in a private placement to fund general corporate purposes, including working capital and operations, while advancing its antibody discovery technology platform.
- CEL-SCI (VA, USA) announced pricing of a $10M best-efforts public offering of common stock to fund the continued development of Multikine, general corporate purposes, and working capital.
- Femasys (GA, USA) announced pricing of an $8M public offering to support commercial expansion, product development, working capital, and general corporate purposes.
- Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (TX, USA) raised $6M through the immediate exercise of outstanding warrants to support working capital and general corporate purposes.
- TREOS Bio (London, United Kingdom) raised $2.1M to advance its lead cancer immunotherapy program.
Post IPO debt
- QT Imaging (CA, USA) raised $5M through a restated and amended senior secured term loan with Lynrock Lake to repurchase and cancel 15M outstanding warrants previously held by Yorkville.
- Spectral Medical Inc. (Toronto, Canada) raised $3M through a Tranche B advance under its senior secured promissory note with Vantive US Healthcare to support regulatory and commercialization preparations for Toraymyxin™ (PMX) and general working capital needs.
- Defence Therapeutics (Vancouver, Canada) announced a non-brokered private placement of convertible debenture units for ~$1.2M to support corporate development.
Mergers and Acquisitions
- BeOne Medicines (MA, USA) to acquire IMDELLTRA royalty rights for up to $950M to strengthen its oncology portfolio from Royalty Pharma (NY, USA).
- AbbVie (IL, USA) to acquire Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals (NY, USA) for $345M to expand its psychiatry pipeline with Bretisilocin, a novel investigational therapy for major depressive disorder.
- Medical Manufacturing Technologies (NC, USA) to acquire Innova Design (CA, USA) to expand its bonding capabilities.
- Terumo (Tokyo, Japan) to acquire OrganOx (Oxford, United Kingdom) to enter the organ transplantation-related sector.
- MannKind Corporation (CA, USA) to acquire scPharmaceuticals (MA, USA) to accelerate revenue growth and expand leadership in cardiometabolic and lung diseases.
- Northwest Biotherapeutics (MD, USA) to acquire Advent BioServices (Sawston, United Kingdom) to strengthen its cell therapy manufacturing capabilities.
- SGD Pharma (France) to acquire Alphial (Treviglio, Italy). The deal will expand SGD Pharma’s footprint in molded and tubular glass packaging for the pharmaceutical industry.
Partnerships
- BioArctic (Stockholm, Sweden) and Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) announced an ~$802M option, collaboration, and license agreement to combine BioArctic’s BrainTransporter technology with a Novartis antibody for neurodegeneration.
- Replicate Bioscience, Inc. (CA, USA) and Novo Nordisk (Denmark) announced a ~$550M multi-year research collaboration to develop novel srRNA-based therapies for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic diseases, with Replicate eligible for research funding, milestones, and tiered royalties.
- Lineage Cell Therapeutics (CA, USA) and William Demant Invest (Denmark) announced a research collaboration and investment of up to $12M to advance Lineage’s auditory neuronal cell transplant program, ReSonance (ANP1), for the treatment of hearing loss.
- Immuneering Corporation (MA, USA) and Eli Lilly and Company (IN, USA) announced a clinical supply agreement to evaluate atebimetinib in combination with Lilly’s KRAS G12C inhibitor olomorasib in a planned Phase 2 trial for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
- CVCO Therapeutics (NY, USA) and Karolinska University Hospital (Solna, Sweden) announced a research collaboration to launch a Phase 2 trial of a once-daily oral sGC stimulator in type 2 diabetes patients with microvascular complications, aiming to improve myocardial microvascular blood flow and cardiac outcomes.
- Verasonics (WA, USA) and ImFusion GmbH (Munich, Germany) announced a collaboration to integrate Verasonics’ Vantage® NXT Research Ultrasound Systems with ImFusion’s software for real-time image reconstruction, 2D/3D visualization, and AI-powered workflows to accelerate next-generation imaging solutions.
- CAGE Bio Inc. (CA, USA) and Mayo Clinic (MN, USA) announced a collaboration to develop novel ionic liquid–based therapies for cutaneous graft-versus-host disease, aiming to address significant unmet needs in managing this debilitating condition.
- Profusa (CA, USA) announced a commercial and clinical collaboration with the Medical University of Graz (Austria) to adopt and integrate the Lumee™ Oxygen platform in vascular procedures and clinical study programs.
- Veeva Systems (CA, USA) and Amgen (CA, USA) announced a collaboration to deploy the Veeva Clinical Platform across trial operations to streamline processes, accelerate clinical development, and support the delivery of new medicines to patients.
- TREOS Bio (London, United Kingdom) announced clinical collaborations with Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin (Berlin, Germany) and Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co Ltd (Shanghai, China) to launch the OBERTO-202 Phase II trial evaluating PolyPEPI1018 with toripalimab and standard of care in MSS colorectal cancer.
Initial Public Offering (IPO)
- Curanex Pharmaceuticals (NY, USA) announced the closing of its $15M initial public offering to fund development of Phyto-N for ulcerative colitis, complete FDA-required studies, prepare an IND submission, and support working capital needs.
Registered Direct Offering (RDO)
- Cognition Therapeutics (NY, USA) announced pricing of a $30M registered direct offering of common stock to two new institutional investors to fund Phase 3 preparations for zervimesine in neurodegenerative disorders, as well as working capital and general corporate purposes.
Closures and Layoffs
- CNS Pharmaceuticals (TX, USA) to lay off employees as part of Phase 3 funding struggles and attempts to pursue an IPO.
- Appia Bio (CA, USA) have announced they will close after funding ran dry before reaching the clinic.
- Pfizer (NY, USA) to lay off 100 employees at the former Seagen headquarters in the Seattle, WA area as part of restructuring.
- Indivior (VA, USA) to lay off employees as part of a multi-year restructuring plan while weighing a divestiture of Opvee.
- Exelixis (CA, USA) to lay off 130 employees and shut down its Pennsylvania site due to post-pandemic downsizing.
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