Vedanta raises; Relay Therapeutics reels in; Gene therapy for SMA

Vedanta raises USD 27 Million to move microbiome assets through the clinic

Vedanta Biosciences raises USD 27 million in its series C round. The cash will bolster its microbiome-derived drugs pipeline. The capital will aid a phase 1/2 trial of VE416 in food allergy, a phase 2 study of VE303 in recurrent C. difficile infection and a phase 1b/2 study of VE800 in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo in advanced or metastatic cancers. The funding comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Rock Springs Capital, Invesco Asset Management, Seventure Partners, and PureTech Health. 

Relay Therapeutics reels in USD 400 Million to accelerate discovery

Relay Therapeutics is bagged a massive USD 400 million series C round to ramp up its platform technology and discovery efforts, build its pipeline and push itself into the clinic. Before launching out of Third Rock Ventures with a USD 57 million series A, the company worked silently for about a year, mission is to create new treatments against targets that were previously considered undruggable, with an initial focus on cancer. Relay is looking to modulate these changes to create next-generation treatments for cancer.

Gene therapy could be cost effective in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)

Biogen’s Spinraza was approved by the FDA as the first and only disease-modifying treatment for SMA, a rare and often fatal genetic muscular disorder. The price tag is USD 750,000 for the first year of therapy. Though high, a report by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has suggested Zolgensma, Novartis’ experimental SMA gene therapy. It could be more cost-effective in the long run versus Spinraza. Zolgensma is currently under FDA review.