STAT+: AstraZeneca invests $2 billion in Summit Therapeutics

The roundup's headline item is AstraZeneca's $2 billion investment in Summit Therapeutics, a substantial pharma bet on the biotech.

Novo Nordisk licensed a once-weekly, oral GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist from China's Hengrui Pharma that is ready for Phase 1 clinical development. The Danish drugmaker paid $300 million upfront for global rights outside China, with a total deal value of $2.6 billion if all future milestones are met.

In clinical updates, Invivyd said its experimental monoclonal antibody designed to protect against Covid infection demonstrated superior safety and tolerability compared to a currently approved mRNA-based Covid vaccine, achieving the goal of a clinical trial. Separately, Immix Biopharma reported that its experimental CAR-T therapy induced complete remissions in 89% of patients with AL Amyloidosis, a rare autoimmune disorder in which toxic proteins build up in organs like the heart and kidneys.

On the gene therapy front, UniQure's experimental Huntington's disease therapy AMT-130 continued to slow disease progression four years after treatment, but the magnitude of the benefit declined from a year earlier — a trend that could potentially complicate the therapy's regulatory review.