Plus, news about Windtree Therapeutics, MEI Pharma and ViiV:
Telix raises $397M in convertible bond offering: The radiopharma biotech plans to use the funds to advance key programs in its pipeline, including supporting pivotal studies in kidney and brain cancer. The offering is expected to close before the market opens on Wednesday. — Ayisha Sharma
Scynexis to get a $10M milestone from GSK: The payment is triggered by the delivery of final reports from three trials investigating its drug, ibrexafungerp, in refractory invasive fungal infections. Per a licensing agreement inked last year, GSK will make the payment to Scynexis in the third quarter. The company received $115 million in upfront and development milestone payments from GSK, and there’s another $323 million still on the table. — Katherine Lewin
Windtree Therapeutics secures $12.9M funding: The proceeds from the private placement will help the company fund an ongoing Phase 2b trial of its first-in-class drug candidate, istaroxime, in cardiogenic shock. A topline readout is expected at the end of the quarter. — Ayisha Sharma
MEI Pharma to seek strategic alternatives: The board unanimously agreed to start evaluating “strategic alternatives,” which could include a potential sale or wind-down of the San Diego-based company. MEI CEO David Urso and CMO Richard Ghalie have also agreed to step down in August. As of June 2023, the company had 46 employees. — Katherine Lewin
ViiV’s third-generation integrase inhibitor shows promise in HIV: GSK’s ViiV put VH184 up against more than 20 HIV-1 viruses with mutations known to resist integrase strand transfer inhibitors in an in vitro study, and it found that its drug “was able to retain antiviral activity” against the mutations. The company also presented Phase 1 data from an oral version of the treatment in patients without HIV. The company said that patients had drug levels in their blood “that could potentially exhibit sufficient antiviral activity” against the mutations that are typically resistant to the drug class. ViiV has another Phase 1 trial ongoing with an injectable, long-acting version of VH184. — Katherine Lewin