Plus, news about Novo Holdings, Pepper Bio, G1 Therapeutics and Akari:
Editas, Bristol Myers Squibb add two years to T cell pact: The companies are extending a research deal for gene-edited alpha-beta T cell therapies into 2026. The deal includes both cancer and autoimmune diseases. Bristol Myers has opted into 13 different programs to date, with two in preclinical studies that could be used to apply for clinical trials. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. — Lei Lei Wu
KalVista Pharmaceuticals drops preclinical HAE program: The biotech is stopping work on its factor XIIa program in hereditary angioedema and plans to find a partner for it. KalVista is instead focused on the pill it’s developing for hereditary angioedema, a disease that causes serious swelling, and it plans to file for FDA approval in June. “Based on this prioritization, we intend to reduce spending on discovery and preclinical activities by more than 75%, to less than $5 million per year,” the company said in a press release. — Lei Lei Wu
Novo Holdings backs quantum startups: The investor will commit €188 million to help build a quantum tech ecosystem in Denmark. It also plans to back similar startups outside Nordic countries. — Kyle LaHucik
Seed-stage biotech buys rights to G1 Therapeutics asset: Pepper Bio is acquiring the license to G1’s CDK4/6 inhibitor lerociclib in most territories except Asia-Pacific. Pepper, which announced a $6.5 million seed round in December, will pay “mid-single-digit millions” by this time next year, and it may dish out up to $135 million more in biobucks. As part of its quarterly update, G1 said it has enough money to take it into the third quarter of 2025. — Kyle LaHucik
Akari changes leadership, pipeline: Akari CEO Rachelle Jacques will step down, and Samir Patel, who runs a life sciences consulting firm, will assume the post in an interim capacity. Meanwhile, a month after announcing merger plans, Akari and Peak Bio said they’ll prioritize Peak’s antibody-drug conjugate platform technology and Akari’s geographic atrophy candidate. Akari’s shares $AKTX were up about 18% on Wednesday morning. — Kyle LaHucik