Among other Asia deals, Takeda adds to pair of recent gene therapy tie-ups with a CNS-focused cell therapy partnership with Immusoft; earlier it licensed ex-US rights to JCR’s Hunter syndrome drug.

Deal Snapshot: In addition to investigating the ADAR1 target with the UK biotech, Exelixis also has optioned a second candidate for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma under its 2019 deal with Aurigene.

Apnimed is going to conduct one more Phase II study in sleep apnea, mainly to assess subjective endpoint questionnaires, and then hopes to launch a Phase III program by autumn of 2022.

Takeda will use Poseida’s non-viral delivery and gene-editing capabilities for six liver- and hematopoietic stem cell-targeted gene therapies. The agreement follows recent gene therapy tie-ups with Selecta and Genevant.

Building upon the May 2020 acquisition of US WorldMeds, Supernus is diversifying beyond Trokendi for epilepsy and will be able to rely on its existing commercial force for CNS products.

ChemoCentryx gets US approval of Tavneos for ANCA vasculitis, which it says may gradually ramp up to a blockbuster revenue opportunity. Current steroid-heavy standard of care has many drawbacks.