Gilead’s novel immune checkpoint inhibitor candidate, magrolimab, has been placed on a partial clinical hold by the US Food and Drug Administration in acute myeloid leukemia, adding to a spate of recent setbacks for the therapy that are chipping away at investor confidence.

With an FDA hold lifted and enrollment moving quickly, physicians are looking at how to combine magrolimab with other treatments in patients with TP53-mutated AML. 

Glenmark’s innovation subsidiary, Ichnos, highlights encouraging early data for lead bispecific antibody assets and hopes to accelerate these via licensing and partnership deals.The US-based arm also points to the tough biopharma financing market where investors are no longer satisfied with just the “preclinical story”.

Also, Cytovia will go public via SPAC merger, Nkarta capitalized on its positive early NK cell therapy data with a $230m offering, and venture capital mega-rounds include $220m for Reify, $110m for Satellite Bio and $100m for OMass Therapeutics.