Look back at pharma news in the week to July 30, 2021

Last week Denali Therapeutics presented early-stage clinical data on its Hunter syndrome candidate DNL310 that did not go down too well with investors. On the deal-making front, US biotech bluebird bio reached agreement with National Resilience to develop next generation cell therapies that will earn it $100 million, while Japan’s PeptiDream struck another mega-bucks licensing accord last week, this time with US RNAi specialist Alnylam worth a potential $2.2 billion. Also, last Tuesday, biotech giant Amgen announced it is acquiring Teneobio in order to help strengthen its portfolio.

Denali disappoints in Hunter syndrome

Denali’s $8 billion market cap already looked rich, given the early-stage nature of the group’s pipeline. Now it looks richer still after interim Phase I/II data on the company’s lead brain-penetrating biotherapeutic DNL310, which can at best be described as mixed, commented Madeleine Armstrong writing on Evaluate Vantage.