Even as investors punished Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT) after it disclosed the death of a patient treated with its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy Elevidys® (delandistrogene moxeparvovec-rokl) this past week, analysts have generally remained bullish, taking a more favorable view of the company—which explains why the stock selloff wasn’t any worse, and why at deadline not a single analyst had downgraded Sarepta’s shares.

Sarepta shares finished the week tumbling 27% from a high of $101.35 on March 17. The following day, Sarepta issued a statement acknowledging the sudden death of a 16-year-old male with DMD of acute liver failure after being treated with Elevidys. The death was the first ever reported among the 800 patients who have taken the drug in clinical trials or as a prescribed therapy, Sarepta noted.

From there, Sarepta shares yo-yoed, starting with a 27% plunge to $73.54 Tuesday, bouncing back 9% to $79.97 Wednesday, then giving up that gain the following day, sliding 8% to $73.45. Sarepta shares stayed nearly flat on Friday, edging up 0.88% to $74.10.

Why didn’t analysts share the same fear that gripped investors about Sarepta stock?

Several reasons have emerged in the research notes of analysts following up on the death. One is the known risk of acute liver injury associated with adeno-associated virus vector (AAV)-based gene therapies like Elevidys—a risk that calls for more careful monitoring, Jefferies equity analyst Andrew Tsai and Ritu Baral, a managing director and senior biotech analyst with TD Cowen, both observed.

Elevidys is indicated for individuals at least four years old to treat DMD in patients who are ambulatory and have a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene, as well as for patients who are non-ambulatory and have a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene—the latter under an accelerated approval based on expression of Elevidys microdystrophin, which may hinge upon confirmatory studies.

“This could give physicians further pause when considering whether to start a patient on Elevidys, especially considering perceptions of relatively modest clinical benefits,” Brian Abrahams, MD, managing director and co-head of biotechnology research with RBC Capital Markets, wrote.

In its statement, Sarepta disclosed that the patient was found through testing to have had a recent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, “which was identified by the treating physician as a possible contributing factor.” CMV can infect and damage the liver, resulting in CMV hepatitis.

“Deeply saddened”

“We are deeply saddened by this patient’s death, and our profound sympathies go out to his family,” Baral wrote. “We think his CMV-confounded liver failure death underscores the careful management older Elevidys patients require in the post-treatment period.”

“We do not think this event is unique to Elevidys,” Baral added. “Rather that [the] risk [of] CMV reactivation (secondary to post-Tx steroids) and liver injury/failure is inherent to any high-dose AAV treatment, especially in older DMD patients.”

As for younger patients, Baral cited the opinion of an unnamed key opinion leader (KOL) described as specializing in orphan neuromuscular disease: “Our KOL sees no impact on his center’s Elevidys use in younger pts.”

The KOL “believes this event will have no impact on how younger patients are treated with Elevidys. Still, we believe investors were hoping for an acceleration of Elevidys growth (over current guidance) in 2025, which this event will likely prevent,” the analyst cautioned.

Sarepta previously projected 162% yearly growth for Elevidys, which would translate to about $1.33 billion in net product revenue—nearly half the company’s 2025 net product revenue guidance range of $2.9 billion to $3.1 billion, representing 70% year-over-year growth.

Baral does not expect the death to result in the revocation of Elevidys’ accelerated approval in non-ambulatory patients but cautioned: “We do think it may slow uptake in this population.”

That’s because both non-ambulatory and older patients generally weigh more than their younger and ambulatory counterparts, and thus would need larger doses of Elevidys—reflecting the longstanding issue over gene therapy dosing. Older patients also have higher morbidity, Leerink Partners analyst Joseph Schwartz noted.

“While an incredibly sad development for the young man, his family, and the DMD community, it appears that this is a unique event with a very low incidence rate. We continue to view the benefit/risk of Elevidys treatment favorably, and think the stock reaction for SRPT is overdone,” Schwartz asserted Tuesday.

“This is an overreaction”

“We think this is an overreaction and presents a buying opportunity ahead of a continued strong Elevidys launch,” Schwartz wrote. “Although we acknowledge that such severe side effects associated with mortality can certainly be alarming and cause the community to question the risk/benefit of treating older patients, we believe that the very low overall incidence which we estimate at less than 0.125% based on aggregate exposure to date is encouraging.”

That incidence is still under 1%, he added, when the death is placed in the context of the more than 100 non-ambulatory patients treated with Elevidys since June 2024, when the FDA expanded its approval of the gene therapy to include non-ambulatory patients ages four and up with a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene (from ambulatory children ages 4-5).

Schwartz maintained Leerink’s “Outperform” rating on Sarepta stock.

Sarepta finished 2024 with GAAP net income of $235.2 million on total revenue that jumped 53% year-over-year to $1.902 billion, swinging from a net loss of $536 million on total revenue of $1.243 billion.

A key component of those results was Elevidys, which generated $820.8 million in net product revenue last year, of which $384.2 million came during the fourth quarter. Outside the United States, rights to Elevidys are held by Roche, which generated $16.8 million in 2024 royalty revenue (including $4.9 million in Q4) on sales of the gene therapy.

“Most successful” launch

“After obtaining a broad label for our gene therapy Elevidys covering the vast majority of Duchenne patients, we had the most successful gene therapy launch in history,” Sarepta president and CEO Doug Ingram said in a statement.

While no analysts downgraded Sarepta stock, two lowered their 12-month price targets on the company’s shares:

• Deutsche Bank (David Hoang)—Down 24% from $105 to $80, maintaining “Sector Perform” rating.
• Scotiabank (Louise Chen)—Down 20% or $25, from $124 to $99, maintaining “Hold” rating.

“Our hearts are heavy,” Pat Fulong, president of Patient Project Muscular Dystrophy, wrote on the organization’s website. “The loss of a child is a tragedy beyond words, and our entire community grieves alongside this family and their loved ones. Let us lean on one another in this time of mourning as we grieve, seek understanding, and push forward with hope.”

Leaders and laggards

• Elevation Oncology (NASDAQ: ELEV) shares nosedived 41% from 48 cents to 28 cents Thursday after the company announced it has begun evaluating strategic options to maximize shareholder value. Elevation said it will end development of EO-3021, a Claudin 18.2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that was being developed to treat advanced, unresectable, or metastatic gastric and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers. The decision followed data from the dose escalation and expansion stages of a Phase I trial in which treatment with EO-3021 as a monotherapy showed an objective response rate of 22.2% (one confirmed complete response and seven confirmed partial responses), plus a disease control rate of 72.2% among 36 evaluable patients with gastric or GEJ cancer and Claudin 18.2 in ≥20% of tumor cells at IHC 2+/3+. Elevation added it will continue to advance EO-1022, a HER3 ADC being developed to treat HER3-expressing solid tumors.
• Windtree Therapeutics (NASDAQ: WINT) shares surged 29% from $1.69 to $2.18 Thursday after the company said it entered into a license and supply agreement to become the sourcing partner for Evofem Biosciences (OTCQB: EVFM) for Evofem’s FDA-approved Phexxi^® (lactic acid, citric acid, and potassium bitartrate), a first-in-class non-hormonal birth control gel. Windtree said it aims to help generate profitable revenue by contracting with Phexxi’s manufacturer to produce the gel at a cost “significantly” below the current level. Evofem will maintain ownership of Phexxi and continue to commercialize it in the United States and internationally through strategic partnerships. Windtree CEO Jed Latkin said the agreement was the company’s first step toward becoming a revenue-generating biotech.

AstraZeneca will carry out potentially more than $11 billion worth of collaborations in China that include partnerships with three Chinese-based companies to develop drugs and vaccines, as well as an R&D center in Beijing that will be its sixth worldwide, the pharma giant and its partners said.

The largest of the collaborations is a potentially more than $4.68 billion partnership with Shanghai-based Harbour BioMed to discover and develop next-generation multi-specific antibodies for immunology, oncology, “and beyond.”

As part of the collaboration, AstraZeneca is making a $105 million equity investment in Harbour, toward a 9.15% stake in the Chinese biopharma. The strategic collaboration gives AstraZeneca an option to license for clinical development unspecified “multiple” programs using Harbour’s Harbour Mice® fully human antibody technology platform in unspecified “multiple” therapeutic areas. These include two preclinical immunology programs, though AstraZeneca will nominate further targets for which Harbour will work to discover next-generation multi-specific antibodies.

AstraZeneca also agreed to pay Harbour $175 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments as well as option exercise fees, plus up to $4.4 billion tied to achieving additional development and commercial milestones, along with tiered royalties on future net sales. AstraZeneca and Harbour have options to include additional programs into the collaboration over the next five years, as well as to extend their agreement for an additional five years.

To support the collaboration and earlier initiatives between the companies, Harbour said it will establish an innovation center in Beijing, to be co-located with AstraZeneca’s planned $2.5 billion R&D hub.

AstraZeneca’s planned Global Strategic R&D Center will be its second R&D hub in China; the first is in Shanghai. The Beijing hub is intended to advance early-stage research and clinical development and will feature a new AI and data science laboratory. The new R&D center will be located within the Beijing International Pharmaceutical Innovation Park (BioPark), near leading biotechs, research hospitals, and the National Medical Products Administration, China’s drug regulatory agency.

“This $2.5 billion investment reflects our belief in the world-class life sciences ecosystem in Beijing, the extensive opportunities that exist for collaboration and access to talent, and our continued commitment to China,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in a statement.

The new hub and planned collaborations are expected to nearly triple the size of AstraZeneca’s Beijing-based workforce, from about 600 now to a projected 1,700.

Earlier partnerships

The latest Harbour collaboration follows earlier partnerships announced by the company and a subsidiary with AstraZeneca in recent years.

Last year, AstraZeneca agreed to license preclinical monoclonal antibodies from Harbour subsidiary Nona Biosciences toward creating targeted therapies in oncology. In return, AstraZeneca agreed to pay Nona $19 million upfront, up to $10 million in near-term milestone payments, and up to $575 million tied to achieving specified development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalty payments on net sales. Nona would receive additional money if AstraZeneca exercises options to develop additional programs.

• A strategic partnership of unknown value with Beijing Cancer Hospital.

AstraZeneca announced the initiatives five months after disclosing last October that Leon Wang, the president of its Chinese division as well as executive vice president of its international business, had been detained as part of an investigation by authorities. Bloomberg News has since reported that authorities were investigating Wang among some of the company’s current and former employees concerning alleged violations of law involving drug imports, data privacy, and insurance reimbursement.

Wang’s international duties are now handled by Iskra Reic, who also continues as AstraZeneca’s senior vice president for vaccines and immune therapies.

Macrocyclic peptides

Syneron will partner with AstraZeneca to develop potentially first-in-class macrocyclic peptides for the treatment of chronic diseases. Syneron has granted AstraZeneca access to its Synova™ platform, a high-throughput macrocyclic peptide drug R&D platform designed to advance research “exploring possible future treatments of chronic diseases, including rare, autoimmune, and metabolic disease,” according to Syneron.

AstraZeneca agreed to pay Syneron $75 million in upfront and potential near-term milestone payments, as well as up to $3.4 billion in additional development and commercial milestones. In addition, tiered royalties will be paid based on global sales. Syneron Bio also said it plans to expand its Beijing R&D center.

BioKangtai will partner with AstraZeneca to develop, manufacture, and commercialize new vaccines for respiratory and other infectious diseases for patients in and outside China, at what will be AstraZeneca’s first and only vaccine manufacturing facility in the country.

“The company and AstraZeneca plan to jointly establish a joint venture in the Economic Development Zone with an estimated registered capital of RMB 345 million [about $50 million] to develop global innovative vaccines (expected to include AstraZeneca’s respiratory An investigational combination vaccine against RSV and hMPV, also known as IVX-A12) and development, registration, localized production, and commercialization of other innovative products in China,” according to a Google Translate translation of the BioKangtai-AstraZeneca agreement, posted in Chinese on BioKangtai’s website.

“The total investment in this project is estimated to be approximately US$400 million (approximately RMB 2.76 billion). The actual investment amount will be determined by the joint venture company based on the project progress,” the agreement added. “The project is scheduled to be put into use before December 31, 2030, and the final time of commissioning will be subject to the actual progress of the project.”

The BioKangtai joint venture follows from a relationship between the companies highlighted when BioKangtai began distributing AsraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after securing rights to manufacture and sell it in mainland China, Pakistan, and Indonesia, where it began by shipping an initial more than four million doses in November 2021.

AstraZeneca said the partnership with Beijing Cancer Hospital will focus on translational research, data science, and clinical development.

Beijing Cancer Hospital is a 790-bed facility that, according to an English text posted on its website, “has been engaged in the diagnosis and treatment of various tumors, such as breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, esophageal carcinoma, malignant lymphoma, gynecological cancer, tumor of head and neck, tumor of urological system, bone tumor, and melanoma.”

March 20 (Reuters) – Sanofi (SASY.PA), opens new tab on Thursday announced an agreement with biopharmaceutical company Dren Bio for the acquisition of its autoimmune disease treatment DR-0201.

The French healthcare group will acquire the Dren Bio affiliate Dren-0201 for an upfront payment of $600 million and potential future payments totalling $1.3 billion, it said in a statement.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, it added.

North Asia-focused private equity firm MBK Partners is on the verge of clinching a major acquisition deal by offering a higher bid than other contenders for South Korea’s CJ Cheiljedang Corp.’s bio business — a deal estimated at 5 trillion won ($3.5 billion).

The deal, if finalized, will help MBK overcome its reputational risks arising from its troubled investment in Korea’s leading hypermarket operator Homeplus Co., analysts said.

According to investment banking sources on Thursday, MBK Partners recently submitted its bid for CJ CheilJedang’s green bio division.

While the exact terms could change depending on further negotiations, MBK’s bid is said to be in line with the sale price of about 5 trillion won expected by the seller, placing it ahead of competing bidders, sources said.

The final agreement will likely be reached by the end of this month after a series of in-depth negotiations, they said.

Morgan Stanley is managing the sale of the bio business.

CHINA’S TWO LEADING BIOTECH FIRMS

Last month, MBK and two leading Chinese biotechnology firms — Guangxin Group and Meihua Group — joined the race for management control of CJ’s bio business in what would be Korea’s largest M&A deal so far this year.

China’s Guangxin and Meihua produce food additives such as MSG and nucleotides, as well as feed additives such as lysine and tryptophan, similar to CJ CheilJedang’s bio division.

The three bidders recently completed due diligence on the bio business.

CJ’s bio business is an attractive asset in view of its strong global presence and stable earnings.

The company’s production and sales network spans 11 countries, including the US, China, Indonesia and Brazil. It also boasts a large market share in China, the world’s top consumer of feed amino acids.

CJ is the world’s No. 1 player in amino acids, which account for 90% of its bio business sales. Feed amino acids were the driving force of the company’s ascent in the global food and beverage market.

In 2024, the company’s bio business posted 337.6 billion won in operating profit on sales of 4.21 trillion won, up 20% and 31%, respectively, from the previous year.

CJ Cheiljedang, the flagship unit of Korea’s food-to-entertainment conglomerate CJ Group, is selling the bio business in line with the parent group’s restructuring efforts to revive sagging sales at its two growth pillars, food and entertainment.

CJ CheilJedang put its bio business on the market last December and initially attracted interest from buyout firms including Blackstone, The Carlyle Group and MBK Partners.

LARGEST CRISIS IN ITS HISTORY

MBK Partners recently made headlines when Homeplus, a leading Korean hypermarket operator, filed for corporate rehabilitation with a Seoul court amid increasing market concerns about its squeezed financial position.

In 2015, MBK acquired 100% of Homeplus for 7.2 trillion won from British retailer Tesco Plc in what was at the time its biggest acquisition and the largest leveraged buyout (LBO) transaction in Asia.

With Homeplus set to come under court protection, however, MBK faces mounting scrutiny over its aggressive LBO-driven investment strategy.

MBK is also in a protracted dispute with Korea Zinc Inc. over management control of the world’s top lead and zinc smelter.

Analysts said MBK appears to be betting on the high-profile CJ bio business acquisition as a way to regain market confidence.

If the CJ deal is confirmed, it will bolster MBK’s standing in the M&A market, they said.

Innovate UK (IUK) reported the start of an industry-academia collaboration to advance sustainable bioprocessing through innovative materials for additive manufacturing (3D printing) as part of the sustainable medicines manufacturing innovation: collaborative R&D.

Project Nexus, a collaboration between Photocentric, Sartorius, Metamorphic, CPI, the University of Sheffield, and Imperial College London, is embarking on the development of new sustainable materials for application in single-use bioprocessing equipment such as bioreactors.

Single-use technologies (SUTs) offer numerous benefits, including faster setup and flexible process configurations, while significantly contributing to the reduction of resources like water, electricity, and caustic chemical usage. Although their waste contributes only about 0.002% to global plastic waste, this project aims to further enhance the advantages of SUTs by introducing sustainable material formulations for additive manufacturing.

Through £1.9M of funding via IUK, Project Nexus aims to bring together expertise across advanced manufacturing automation, digital design and optimization, as well as material innovation and bioprocessing, to pioneer the future of additive manufacturing (AM) of bioreactors at scale.

The project aspires to offer a greener alternative to SU bioreactors with enhanced circularity and end-of-life pathways, all while retaining the flexibility of disposable systems.

“Through harnessing the advanced capabilities of our latest 3D printing innovation, JENI, we’re really excited to be part of this important partnership and the development of a new generation of cost effective, sustainable solutions for biopharma,” said Paul Holt, founder and managing director, Photocentric.

“We’re excited to contribute the AMRC’s wealth of experience in sustainable design engineering to Project Nexus. This collaborative initiative will be a significant step in making the biopharmaceutical sector more sustainable, ultimately advancing the U.K.’s net zero ambitions,” noted Jose Casamayor Alarco, PhD, technical fellow at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC).
3D printing technology
By utilizing advanced 3D printing technology and newly developed eco-friendly, bio-based resins to produce thermosets that can be autoclaved for reuse, Project Nexus aims to tackle current challenges and enhance sustainability through greater circularity, i.e., aligning with government targets for reducing waste and promoting sustainable manufacturing.

The bioreactors will be tested for pharmaceutical R&D and point-of-care manufacturing, with potential reuse in industrial biotechnology for green chemical production. In addition to this, the technical, economic, and environmental impact will be assessed, focusing on the benefits of advanced manufacturing (AM) technology in reducing waste and enhancing efficiency through material circularity and system flexibility.

“The goals at the heart of the Nexus project go beyond simply enabling us to unlock the applications of today. They also allow us to realize the future obligations of us all, through the development of sustainable material formulations,” explained Jeremy Pullin, head of AM & manufacturing technology of Sartorius.

“We’re excited to contribute our expertise in material innovation to Project Nexus,” emphasized Tony Jackson, director of formulation at CPI. “By developing a high-performance, bio-based resin tailored for bioreactors, we are enabling a more sustainable future for biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
“Our focus on circularity and end-of-life solutions ensures that this project not only advances technological capabilities but also drives meaningful progress toward net zero goals. We look forward to collaborating with our partners to redefine the role of additive manufacturing in the sector.”

Project Nexus is fully established and set to deliver over the next 24 months, according to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a non-departmental public body sponsored by the department for science, innovation, and technology (DSIT). IUK, part of UKRI, will work with the department of health and social core (DHSC) to invest up to £15 million to support the development and adoption of sustainable technologies for the manufacturing of medicines.

AstraZeneca will carry out potentially more than $11 billion worth of collaborations in China that include partnerships with three Chinese-based companies to develop drugs and vaccines, as well as an R&D center in Beijing that will be its sixth worldwide, the pharma giant and its partners said.

The largest of the collaborations is a potentially more than $4.68 billion partnership with Shanghai-based Harbour BioMed to discover and develop next-generation multi-specific antibodies for immunology, oncology, “and beyond.”

As part of the collaboration, AstraZeneca is making a $105 million equity investment in Harbour, toward a 9.15% stake in the Chinese biopharma. The strategic collaboration gives AstraZeneca an option to license for clinical development unspecified “multiple” programs using Harbour’s Harbour Mice® fully human antibody technology platform in unspecified “multiple” therapeutic areas. These include two preclinical immunology programs, though AstraZeneca will nominate further targets for which Harbour will work to discover next-generation multi-specific antibodies.

AstraZeneca also agreed to pay Harbour $175 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments as well as option exercise fees, plus up to $4.4 billion tied to achieving additional development and commercial milestones, along with tiered royalties on future net sales. AstraZeneca and Harbour have options to include additional programs into the collaboration over the next five years, as well as to extend their agreement for an additional five years.

To support the collaboration and earlier initiatives between the companies, Harbour said it will establish an innovation center in Beijing, to be co-located with AstraZeneca’s planned $2.5 billion R&D hub.

AstraZeneca’s planned Global Strategic R&D Center will be its second R&D hub in China; the first is in Shanghai. The Beijing hub is intended to advance early-stage research and clinical development and will feature a new AI and data science laboratory. The new R&D center will be located within the Beijing International Pharmaceutical Innovation Park (BioPark), near leading biotechs, research hospitals, and the National Medical Products Administration, China’s drug regulatory agency.

“This $2.5 billion investment reflects our belief in the world-class life sciences ecosystem in Beijing, the extensive opportunities that exist for collaboration and access to talent, and our continued commitment to China,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in a statement.

The new hub and planned collaborations are expected to nearly triple the size of AstraZeneca’s Beijing-based workforce, from about 600 now to a projected 1,700.

Earlier partnerships

The latest Harbour collaboration follows earlier partnerships announced by the company and a subsidiary with AstraZeneca in recent years.

Last year, AstraZeneca agreed to license preclinical monoclonal antibodies from Harbour subsidiary Nona Biosciences toward creating targeted therapies in oncology. In return, AstraZeneca agreed to pay Nona $19 million upfront, up to $10 million in near-term milestone payments, and up to $575 million tied to achieving specified development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalty payments on net sales. Nona would receive additional money if AstraZeneca exercises options to develop additional programs.

March 20 (Reuters) – Sanofi (SASY.PA), opens new tab on Thursday announced an agreement with biopharmaceutical company Dren Bio for the acquisition of its autoimmune disease treatment DR-0201.

The French healthcare group will acquire the Dren Bio affiliate Dren-0201 for an upfront payment of $600 million and potential future payments totalling $1.3 billion, it said in a statement.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, it added.

Walgreens will pay $100 million to settle claims it overcharged customers who used insurance benefits for prescription medications.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit that accused Walgreens of inflating its “usual and customary” drug prices for insured customers and not factoring in the prices from its now-discontinued Prescription Savings Club program, according to the lawsuit. As a result, insured customers ended up overpaying for their generic medications, the lawsuit claims.

Walgreens denies any wrongdoing but has agreed to pay $100 million to settle the lawsuit, according to the settlement website.

You may qualify for the settlement if you purchased prescription drugs from Walgreens between Jan. 1, 2007, and Nov. 18, 2024, using prescription insurance benefits, with compensation based on the amount you paid for eligible medications.

Those who did not use insurance benefits are not included in the settlement.

The deadline to file a claim is April 17, 2025. You can submit your claim at savingsclubsettlement.com or call 877-888-8396 for more information.

Roche’s up to $1 billion investment will provide access to Oxford BioTherapeutics’ antibody-drug conjugate platform for undisclosed cancer targets.
Roche has inked an immuno-oncology partnership with U.K.-based Oxford BioTherapeutics with an eye toward developing best-in-class antibody-based treatments for cancer.

The pharma will pay $36 million upfront and has promised future milestone payments that could potentially go beyond $1 billion, according to a Wednesday announcement. Oxford will also be eligible for royalties on net sales of products that arise from the partnership.

In return, Roche will gain access to Oxford’s OGAP-Verify platform, a proprietary database on membrane protein abundance, with around 7,000 cataloged proteins across solid and hematological cancers and healthy tissues. The library is used to identify cancer targets that Oxford says would have otherwise been missed, as well as to predict a drug candidate’s potential efficacy and toxicity.

The partners will leverage the OGAP-Verify technology to discover and validate potential cancer targets, according to the agreement. Roche will be responsible for further development, as well as regulatory and commercialization activities, for any program that it chooses to take forward. The partners have yet to disclose what their priority diseases are, only revealing in the press announcement that they are going after “multiple selected novel oncology indications.”

With Wednesday’s Oxford partnership, Roche dives deeper into the ADC space. The pharma has two ADCs on the market: Polivy, indicated for specific types of lymphoma, and Kadcyla for the treatment of certain breast cancers.

Roche opened 2025 with an up to $1 billion licensing deal with Innovent, gaining access to the Chinese biotech’s anti-DLL3 ADC, which is in a Phase I study for small cell lung cancer.

A year earlier, in January 2024, Roche likewise turned to China for a cancer ADC, this time from Suzhou-headquartered MediLink Therapeutics. For $50 million upfront and the promise of around $1 billion in future payments, Roche secured rights to YL211, a c-MET-targeting ADC for solid tumors.

The deal with Roche adds to Oxford’s roster of powerhouse partners. The U.K. biotech is also collaborating with Boehringer Ingelheim, which in January this year exercised its option for a fourth novel target in cancer. Oxford also has partnership programs with Agenus and Genmab.

Nvidia continues to add to its roster of healthtech partners, with ReSync Bio and Sapio Sciences announcing on Wednesday that they will integrate the tech giant’s BioNeMo platform to accelerate drug discovery. Both companies will employ Nvidia Information Models (NIMs), a suite of microservices that will enable them to analyse vast amounts of data and quickly draw conclusions throughout the R&D process.

‘No coding required’

ReSync provides AI-enabled drug discovery solutions to biotechs, coordinating labs, data and AI models on its platform. High-throughput virtual screening brings real-world lab-based insights into the digital environment, enhancing the accuracy of testing and modelling drug candidates.

The company plans to leverage NIMs to streamline the use of AI in R&D by managing the technical and user experience aspects. ReSync has integrated DiffDock, MolMIM and GenMol — Nvidia’s core small molecule NIM microservices — that it will use in combination with its own AI models, including Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion (ADME) and Toxicity predictions. This combination of models will take users through the whole cycle of in silico analysis.

ReSync said that the partnership will ensure that its users can access the resources they need to work on their core research goals, without dealing with behind-the-scenes technology.

“AI has transformed digital drug discovery, but many biotechs and pharmas remain limited by their ability to deploy and manage AI infrastructure,” said Mihir Trivedi, CEO of ReSync Bio. “Integrating Nvidia BioNeMo helps bridge this gap by making advanced AI tools accessible to every drug discovery team — no coding required.”

‘Removing inefficiencies’

Sapio’s lab informatics platform hosts its cloud-based solutions — a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) and Scientific Data Management — that streamline workflows across R&D, clinical diagnostics and manufacturing.

With BioNeMo, the Sapio platform will provide access to embedded in silico tools, allowing researchers to rapidly identify and optimise drug candidates. With easy access to models, drug discoveries can be made faster and more efficiently, Sapio said.

“AI innovation is advancing rapidly, but scientists are often forced to navigate fragmented tools with complex interfaces, slowing down research,” said Kevin Cramer, CEO at Sapio. “Our integration of Nvidia’s powerful AI-driven tools directly into the Sapio Platform enables researchers to apply AI seamlessly into their experiments. Through this work, we are removing inefficiencies and equipping scientists with the tools to rapidly generate, analyse and visualise both chemical and biological results.”

Nvidia opened the BioNeMo framework to the global biopharma industry in November 2024.  According to the company, over 200 techbios have already integrated BioNeMo into their drug discovery platforms. Last month, Nvidia released Evo2 on BioNeMo, a tool that offers insights into DNA, RNA and proteins across a wide range of species.