Matchmaking & Partnering (Financing, Equity)

It is great to see a Swiss for-profit and a Swiss non-profit working together to develop an innovative new solution to address gonorrhea and explore opportunities in other areas. The novel drug candidate Debio1453 offers significant hope, demonstrating strong activity against multidrug-resistant strains by targeting the essential FabI enzyme for bacterial survival, with the added crucial advantage of showing no cross-resistance to currently available antibiotic classes. About GARDP GARDP (the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership) is a not-for-profit global health organization driven to protect people from the rise and spread of drug-resistant infections, one of the biggest threats to us all. Vital support for our work comes from the governments of Canada, Germany, Japan, Monaco, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Canton of Geneva, the European Commission, as well as the Gates Foundation, Global Health EDCTP3, GSK, the RIGHT Foundation, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Wellcome. CARB-X's funding for this project is provided in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under agreement number: 75A50122C00028, and by awards from Wellcome (WT224842), Germany's Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), the UK Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) and the Novo Nordisk Foundation."

Under the collaboration and license agreement, GARDP and Debiopharm will jointly develop Debio1453, a first-in-class antibiotic candidate that targets an enzyme that's essential for the growth of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and has shown potent clinical activity against the bacterium in preclinical studies, including multidrug-resistant strains. The confirmation of this partnership is a powerful indicator of Debio1453's potential to replenish a critically depleted antibacterial pipeline, addressing a severe therapeutic gap," said Morgane Vanbiervliet, PhD, director of global development and licensing for Debiopharm. "For those struggling with multidrug-resistant gonorrhoea, this agreement signals a decisive step toward restoring effective treatment options and ensuring long-term antibiotic sustainability." More antibiotics for gonorrhea needed The collaboration comes on the heels of the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of two new antibiotics for gonorrhea, zoliflodacin and gepotidacin—the first new antibiotics approved for gonorrhea in decades. "It is great to see a Swiss for-profit and a Swiss non-profit working together to develop an innovative new solution to address gonorrhoea and explore opportunities in other areas," said GARDP executive director Manica Balasegaram, MRCP, MSc."

En ny rapport fra FBV fremlægger de første af en række konkrete anbefalinger til en dansk børsmarkedsreform Fjern forhindringer og gør det mere attraktivt for pensionsselskaberne at investere bredere i danske børsnoterede virksomheder Det danske børsmarked er i markant tilbagegang og risikerer at svække både dansk vækst, arbejdspladser og økonomisk sikkerhed. Femdobling i værdien af det danske børsmarked de seneste 25 år, men færre noterede danske selskaber – og danske investorers andel er faldende Siden 2007 er antallet af børsnoterede selskaber på Nasdaq Copenhagen faldet fra 204 til 114. I den nye geopolitiske situation er det samfundsøkonomisk og sikkerhedsmæssigt paradoksalt, at Danmark placerer sig i EU´s absolutte bund, når det kommer til at investere pensionsmidler i landets egne børsnoterede selskaber." siger Thomas Black-Petersen Passiv kapital udhuler børsmarkedet Rapporten peger på, at en stigende andel af pensionsmidler investeres passivt i globale indeks. Anbefalinger til en dansk børsmarkedsreform FBV foreslår en samlet børsmarkedsreform, der skal: mobilisere flere danske pensionsmidler til danske børsnoterede virksomheder styrke aktiekulturen bredt blandt danske private investorer gøre det mere attraktivt at blive og være børsnoteret i Danmark Blandt de centrale forslag i den første delrapport er: lempelse af regulatoriske og rapporteringsmæssige barrierer for pensionsselskaber etablering af et dansk "Tibi-initiativ" inspireret af Frankrig, der mobiliserer langsigtet kapital til børsnoterede og unoterede vækstvirksomheder bedre incitamenter til investering i danske small- og mid cap-aktier "Danmark har et af verdens stærkeste pensionssystemer."

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Sunday morning. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.03 million, a PE ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 1.46. Spero Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 125.91% and a negative net margin of 108.11%.The business had revenue of $5.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.00 million.

Lowe, who spoke with PitchBook in a personal capacity, also authors the industry blog In the Pipeline." The training datasets used by pharmacists and biologists are large, messy and full of holes. Dent predicted that 2026 would be the "year of deployment" in biopharma, where "anyone who's not using these tools will be at a competitive disadvantage." But identifying a drug candidate is only the first step in an arduous process. If a drug makes it to clinical trials, it begins by undergoing a series of safety checks, first in healthy volunteers, then in small trials with a few hundred patients, and finally in larger trials that often take several years to complete, aiming to identify any long-term side effects. To be deemed successful, a drug needs to prove in large-scale trials that it's effective, safe, and that it's being administered at the correct dose."

𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 €24 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 When we founded ShanX Medtech BV, it started with frustration: frustration with diagnostic delays, and with what patients and clinicians are forced to endure when bacterial infections aren't treated accurately in time. I'm grateful to build this next chapter with partners who recognize both the urgency and the scale of the problem, Borski Fund, NextGen Ventures, CbusineZ, Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), Invest-NL, and our strategic angel partners and I thank them all for their trust and conviction. A huge shoutout to the people behind the organizations who actually made this possible: Bertrand Van Leersum, Simone Brummelhuis, Jen Roberts-Woods, Reinoud Pleij, Roel Dekkers, Peter Haasjes, Sanne van Erp, Joris Govers, Karel Stolper, Paul Vernooij, Koen Voskuil, Mats Wassink, Viktor Tsjebanov, Floris van Leeuwen, Ineke Cazander, and from our side Ardjan van der Linden, Henk Stapert, Alex van Belkum, the entire ShanX Medtech team throughout the years, and our first believer, Carmen van Vilsteren. Our gratitude extends to the European Commission Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA) EU in Emergencies and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) for their trust to our solution.

The creation of Servier Ventures is fully aligned with our mission to drive therapeutic progress and address unmet patient needs. Today, we invest a significant portion of our sales to develop our R&D pipeline. This commitment includes supporting innovative companies seeking to deliver transformative scientific solutions for patients." Olivier Laureau, President of Servier "In line with the Group's strategy, Servier Ventures will finance and support emerging biotech companies and, if needed, provide them access to Servier's scientific expertise and capabilities, to boost their potential and foster the creation of innovative new medicines. The creation of the fund will strengthen Servier's positioning as a partner of choice for promising companies seeking to take a strategic step forward, aligned with our focus toward innovation for the benefit of patients." Alexis Vandier, newly appointed Global Head of Servier Ventures"

Mavatar, a global specialist in AI- and data-driven precision medicine solutions, today announces the start of a non-clinical research collaboration with Sobi, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases. We are pleased to collaborate with Sobi, whose deep commitment to rare diseases aligns strongly with our mission," said Johan Juhlin, CEO and Co-founder of Mavatar. "Through advanced analytics of public transcriptomic data, we aim to contribute to a clearer understanding of IFNγ-driven mechanisms across relevant biological contexts." By leveraging Mavatar's analytical frameworks, the project will investigate IFNγ-related molecular patterns across selected datasets, supporting broader scientific exploration in immune-mediated and rare disease research. "Through this collaboration, we aim to further strengthen our scientific knowledge base using structured, data-driven analyses." This collaboration strengthens Mavatar's expanding work within rare disease and immunology - areas where AI- and data-driven research can help accelerate insight generation."

By Mariela Angella Oladive The University of San Agustin strengthened its drive to become a research- and innovation-oriented institution after securing its second Philippine patent and signing a Technology Licensing Agreement with MARIDAN Industries Inc. on Jan. 6 at the university's President's Conference Room. The patent, titled Methods of Purifying Antibiotic Compounds From Cajanus cajan," was granted by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines and formally awarded during the ceremony by Marianne Tajanlangit-Bebit, Intellectual Property Rights Specialist II of the IPOPHL–Iloilo Satellite Office. It tells our scientists, our students, and our institutions that their ideas are worth protecting, worth investing in, and worth bringing outside and to the world," Tajanlangit-Bebit said in her message. She credited support from the Department of Science and Technology in 2020 for enabling the project to move forward during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic."

The ECCP Summary Report 2025, Strengthening the European economy through collaboration, sets out how clusters and cluster organisations can act as practical delivery mechanisms for the EU's competitiveness agenda, translating policy priorities into implementable projects, partnerships and investment on the ground. It also shows how cluster organisations are increasingly operating as orchestration nodes within regional industrial ecosystems, aligning firms, research and public actors, and structuring cooperation and investment. A central contribution of the report is its clarification of how clusters can advance the three core priorities of the Competitiveness Compass: Closing the innovation gap by organising demand-driven collaboration, connecting SMEs with anchor firms and testbeds, and building cross-border technology adoption pipelines, illustrated by meta-cluster models such as Silicon Europe. The report also underlines the role of EU-level instruments that mobilise cluster networks for cross-border delivery, notably the 2025 Euroclusters initiative under the Single Market Programme, with a total budget of €42 million and more than €30 million expected to reach SMEs through cascade funding.