> Merck ($MRK) extended its ion channel research collaboration with Ablynx (EBR:ABLX). The extension triggered a €1 million ($1.1 million) milestone payment to Ablynx and set it up to earn more between now and the new September 2018 end date of the deal. Merck and Ablynx began working on the project, which is developing a drug aimed at a voltage gated ion channel, in 2012. Release
> Genfit (EPA:GNF) raised €33.9 million through a private placement. The fundraising is the first step in a two-part drive to raise up to €80 million for a Phase III nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) trial. Genfit plans to raise the rest of the money through a rights issue. If successful, the French company thinks it will have enough money to see it through to the end of 2018 or start of 2019, by which time data from the Phase III NASH trial should be available. Release
> Kymab entered into a bispecific antibody collaboration with China’s EpimAb Biotherapeutics. The deal pairs the Kymouse platform that helped Kymab land $90 million in funding in 2014 and 2015 with EpimAb’s system for generating bispecific antibodies. Kymab will have the rights to bispecifics discovered in the collaboration in all regions outside of China. Release
> Lundbeck (CPH:LUN) won FDA approval for its intravenous formulation of the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine. The Danish drugmaker originally sought approval of the formulation in 2014, only for FDA to demand more CMC data in a complete response letter. Lundbeck successfully resubmitted its NDA earlier this year and is set to start selling the drug next year. Release
> PharmaMar (BME:PHM) reported that lurbinectedin met the primary endpoint in a Phase II breast cancer trial. The study gave the RNA polymerase II inhibitor to patients with BRCA1/2-associated metastatic breast cancer who had previously received up to three lines of chemotherapy. Two-fifths of patients experienced a significant reduction in tumor size. In the BRCA2 subgroup, the overall response rate topped 60%. Release
> Aprea Therapeutics began the Phase II part of its ovarian cancer trial. The trial will enroll 400 relapsed, p53-mutated high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients and treat them with two regimens, one of which features Aprea’s APR-246. “The Phase Ib portion of this study demonstrated not only that APR-246 can be safely combined with standard chemotherapy for relapsed ovarian cancer but also that a favorable impact on progression-free survival could be achieved with the combination regimen in this difficult-to-treat population,” Aprea CMO Dr. Mikael von Euler said in a statement. Release