Amirah Al Idrus
FierceBiotech
Washington, DC, United States
Contact Amirah
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Past articles by Amirah:
Striking deals with Blueprint COO Haviland
Blueprint Medicines’ portfolio of molecularly targeted treatments is the “sweet spot” for a small company, but sometimes a deal is the best way to move forward. Fierce Biotech caught up with the biotech's Chief Operating Officer Kate Haviland to talk about her approach to dealmaking. → Read More
Novartis veteran Barth takes the helm at autoimmune biotech MiroBio
As MiroBio gears up for its first clinical trial, the autoimmune biotech is getting a new CEO: Carolin Barth, M.D., joins after a 17-year run at Novartis, where she most recently led commercial and pipeline strategy for cell and gene therapies. → Read More
Tyra Biosciences banks $173M to bring cancer resistance programs into clinic
Tyra Biosciences is the latest biotech to rake in an upsized IPO. Its $172.8 million deal will push three programs targeting drug-resistant cancers into the clinic. The company will start trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker “TYRA” on Wednesday. It expects the funds to support its work through at least 2024, according to a securities filing. → Read More
Alector bolsters 'immuno-neurology' approach—and GSK's $700M bet—with early phase 2 data
Weeks after GlaxoSmithKline ponied up $700 million to work with Alector on a pair of “immuno-neurology” drugs, the neurodegenerative disease biotech pulled the curtain on early data showing its approach could slow the progression of an inherited form of dementia. → Read More
Prime Medicine uncloaks with $315M to push ‘search and replace’ gene editing treatments
After a year in the shadows, Prime Medicine is breaking cover with $315 million to develop a new kind of gene editing. The company likens its approach to the “search and replace” function on a word processor, with the ability to correct disease-causing mutations without making double-stranded breaks in the DNA. → Read More
Eli Lilly taps Verge Genomics in ALS deal worth $25M upfront
As Verge Genomics plugs away at its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis program, it is teaming up with Eli Lilly to pursue even more targets for new treatments against the devastating disease. The drug discoverer will pick up $25 million in an upfront fee, equity and near-term payments, but stands to collect up to $694 million down the line. → Read More
Ex-Immunomedics CEO takes the wheel at Danish ADC player
On the heels of a $62 million funding round, Denmark’s Adcendo has a new CEO: Michael Pehl, formerly Celgene’s oncology chief and CEO of Immunomedics, the company behind Gilead’s potential blockbuster breast cancer drug Trodelvy. → Read More
We're looking for 2021's Fiercest Women in Life Sciences
Each year at Fierce, we spotlight women who are leading the way in biotech, pharma and medtech. Be sure to submit your nominations by 11:59 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 2, for consideration in this year’s list. → Read More
Vir, GSK unveil final data for COVID-19 antibody en route to 2021 filing
With final phase 3 data in hand, Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline are seeking full approval for their COVID-19 antibody by the end of the year. The study found that the treatment, sotrovimab, slashed hospitalizations and deaths by 79% in adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 who were at high risk of their disease becoming severe. → Read More
Vertex’s rare lung disease drug hits phase 2 goal—but still winds up on the scrapheap
Vertex is ditching another prospect it was developing for a rare genetic disorder that can lead to liver and lung disease. The treatment beat placebo in a phase 2 study, but its effect was so small the company deemed it unlikely to “translate into substantial clinical benefit.” → Read More
ASCO: Bristol Myers, leading the LAG-3 pack, posts phase 3 melanoma data for Opdivo-boosting relatlimab
Bristol Myers Squibb is no stranger to mixing checkpoint inhibitors—see the many indications in development for the combination of Opdivo and Yervoy. Now, the drugmaker is one step closer to offering a new checkpoint inhibitor cocktail for the treatment of advanced melanoma, with the first phase 3 data for a LAG-3 antibody in tandem with the PD-1 blocker Opdivo. → Read More
Perceptive Advisors unveils $515M fund, its 2nd for early-stage biotechs
After 20 years of backing clinical-stage biotechs, Perceptive Advisors took a leap in 2019, teaming up with Chris Garabedian’s Xontogeny to invest in earlier-stage companies. Less than 18 months later, that crew is back for round two, with a new fund totaling $515 million. Dubbed the Perceptive Xontogeny Fund II, the capital will bankroll series A rounds of $20 million to $40 million. → Read More
Dyno grabs $100M to expand tech, build team, ink more gene therapy partnerships
Dyno Therapeutics emerged last year with a modest seed round and Big Pharma partnerships to fuel its work designing new and improved viral vectors to deliver gene therapy. Now, the company is kicking it up a notch with a $100 million financing to expand its platform into new tissues, build its team and ink more partnerships. → Read More
Werewolf Therapeutics howls onto the Nasdaq with $120M IPO
As it chases its shape-shifting cytokine drugs toward the clinic, Werewolf Therapeutics will collect $120 million in its Wall Street debut. After snaring a $72 million private round in January, it filed to raise up to $100 million in its IPO. The company bumped that up to $120 million by upping the number of shares it would offer. → Read More
Tango finds a quick step to Wall Street via $353M SPAC deal
Tango Therapeutics is aiming for the public markets, one year after raising its latest private round. But instead of going the traditional IPO route, the synthetic lethality biotech is joining a swelling wave of life sciences companies that are hitting Wall Street by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, raising $353 million in the process. → Read More
Frequency Therapeutics regroups as hearing loss med falls short in phase 2
Frequency Therapeutics is going back to the drawing board. After showing promise in phase 1, four dosing regimens of its hearing loss treatment did no better than placebo in a phase 2a study. The company will press ahead with a single-dose regimen and is waiting on final results from this study as well as readouts from two more phase 1b studies to plot its next steps. → Read More
Biotech's top 10 money raisers of 2020
Private biopharma companies raised nearly $20 billion in 2020, blowing past the record $17.9 billion set in 2018. Here are the top 10 fundraising rounds, which include some "truly monstrous" financings like Sana Biotechnology's eye-watering $700 million series and Lyell Immunopharma's $493 million raise. → Read More
Medigene loses CMO after slashing staff, blood cancer program
Medigene's chief medical officer and chief development officer, Kai Pinkernell, is bidding the immuno-oncology biotech adieu. His departure comes two months after the company culled a blood cancer program and six months after it revealed it would cut its staff by about 25%. → Read More
Alnylam clinical development vet becomes Beam Therapeutics CMO
As Beam Therapeutics sets its sights on the clinic, it has signed on a new chief medical officer. Amy Simon, M.D., arrives from Alnylam, where she held various roles over a decade, culminating in vice president of clinical development. → Read More
In conversation with John Leonard, CEO of Intellia
Intellia CEO John Leonard discusses his journey from Abbott and AbbVie to a gene editing biotech and where he sees the field going in the near future. → Read More