Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly EuroBiotech Report. Biotechs, like Cole Porter, love Paris in the spring time. Cerenis Therapeutics (EPA:CEREN) and Ose Pharma (EPA:OSE) both debuted on the city's stock exchange this week. And with Sensorion filing the paperwork for a €12 million ($12.9 million) listing, Paris is set move within touching distance of its 2014 IPO haul before the daffodils in the Jardin des Tuileries finish blooming. The newcomers will trade alongside the likes of Cardio3 Biosciences (EBR:CARD), the Belgian biotech that went public in Brussels and Paris back in 2013. Cardio3 is now looking to public investors on the other side of the Atlantic for money to advance its pipeline of stem cell and CAR-T therapies through the clinic. That same pool of investors doled out a tough punishment to Can-Fite ($CANF) after its drug came up short in a Phase II psoriasis trial. Shares in the Israeli biotech fell 60% to a new low. PledPharma (STO:PLED) went in the opposite direction. Investors drove shares in the Swedish biotech up 20% after a Phase IIb trial linked its drug PledOx to a 43% drop in incidence of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. The European Medicines Agency scheduled a meeting about the first drug to advance through its fast-track approval process. The unnamed advanced therapy--an umbrella term for medicines based on genes, cells or tissue engineering--could go on to win a conditional, restricted approval based on data from small, early clinical trials. And more. Nick Taylor (email | Twitter)
1. Parisian IPO boomlet continues with Sensorion setting terms
The quick-fire pace of biotech IPOs in Paris is set to continue. Inner ear disease specialist Sensorion is the latest to set terms for an IPO that will see it join Cerenis Therapeutics, Ose Pharma and Poxel in a Parisian class of 2015 that has already almost swelled to the size of last year's crop.
2. Cardio3 pitches its stem cell, CAR-T pipeline to U.S. investors
Cardio3 Biosciences is set to become the latest European biotech to pitch up on Wall Street in search of cash from public investors. And with a clinical-phase CAR-T asset in its pipeline, the Belgian biotech stands a chance of tapping into investor enthusiasm for the red-hot niche.
3. Can-Fite sinks 60% to all-time low after PhII/III flop
Bearish interpreters of the interim Phase II/III data Can-Fite ($CANF) presented in 2012 have been proven right. Final top-line results from the trial of CF101 in psoriasis patients showed it failed to meet its primary endpoint, sending shares in the Israeli biotech down 60% to close at a new low for the company.
4. PledPharma jumps 20% on PhII chemotherapy-induced nerve damage data
PledPharma has posted Phase IIb data linking its oxidative stress protector to a 43% drop in incidence of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. The data triggered a 20% jump in the stock price of the company as investors responded to the results and talk of a possible partnership.
5. Fast-track approvals gain traction in Europe as EMA, U.K. schemes take off
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is preparing to step up its conditional approval initiative to cut the time and data needed to bring new drugs to patients. Having received applications to enter 58 drugs into the program, EMA has selected a treatment based on genes, cells or tissue engineering as the first candidate to advance to the next stage.
And more >>