Eli Lilly, via its Loxo Oncology biotech unit, is signing up to a three-therapy deal with Merus focused on T-cell redirecting bispecific antibody work.

• Potential first-in-class disease-modifying biologic in late-stage clinical studies
• Experienced executive development team from Gilead Sciences

NAPLES, Fla., — Enveric Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENVB) (“Enveric” or the “Company”), a patient-first biotechnology company developing novel cannabinoid medicines to improve quality of life for cancer patients, today announced the closing on January 14, 2021, of its $10 million registered direct offering consisting of the purchase and sale of 2,221,358 shares of Enveric’s common stock and common stock equivalents, at a purchase price of $4.5018 per share. Also, Enveric has issued to the investors unregistered warrants to acquire 1,666,019 shares of Common Stock at $4.9519 per share, exercisable immediately and terminating five years after the date of issuance.

• Positive first results from the complete dose-finding part of a phase Ib/II study of tumor-agnostic NBTXR3 (PEP503) activated by radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy for patients with rectal cancer show that intratumoral injection of the product candidate was feasible and it was well tolerated at all dose levels
• An injection procedure-related dose-limiting toxicity of urinary tract infection was observed in the study, however there were no observed adverse events or severe adverse events associated with NBTXR3
• More than 70% of patients showed objective tumor response after concurrent chemoradiation
• Approximately 90% of patients underwent total mesorectal excision (surgery), and 17.6% achieved pathological complete response
• 50% of the patients receiving surgery had good tumor regression (tumor regression grade 0 or 1)

Toronto, Ontario – Relay Medical Corp. (CSE: RELA) (OTCQB: RYMDF) (FSE: EIY2) (“Relay” or the “Company”), is pleased to announce that further to its press releases of December 18, 2020, and January 8, 2021, the Company has completed the second tranche of its non-brokered private placement financing (the “Offering“) through the issuance of 13,625,000 units (each, a “Unit“) at a price of $0.20 per Unit for gross proceeds of $2,725,000. The aggregate gross proceeds raised pursuant to the first and second tranches of the Offering is $7,800,000 through the issuance of 39,000,000 Units.

PRA Health Sciences selected for the study which will position Awakn at the Forefront of Psychedelic Research for Addiction Treatment

If racial justice wasn’t front of mind for biopharma, the events of 2020, from the COVID-19 pandemic to police brutality, put it there. Companies are tackling the issue on multiple fronts, including diversifying their workforce and making sure they’re testing their drugs in diverse populations. With its latest efforts, Eli Lilly is focusing on building startups.

Earlier this week at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Thermo Fisher Scientific CEO Marc Casper said 2021 is going to be a year that sees the company quickly accelerate its long-term plans, including a full pipeline of M&A deals. He wasn’t kidding.

A former Merck immuno-oncology director faces up to 10 years in prison for allegedly stealing trade secrets about Keytruda and other drugs. The researcher is charged with stealing and transmitting trade secrets around the time he left Merck to take up a position at AstraZeneca in 2019.

Xontogeny’s Landos Biopharma is jumping into warm biotech IPO waters as it looks to go public with a $100 million offering.