July 8 Quick Takes: F-Star STINGs AZ; plus Q1 PDUFA date for tezepelumab, Verge-Lilly, Oncopeptides, Adjuvant-VitriVax, Theolytics 

AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN) licensed preclinical STING inhibitors from F-Star Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:FSTX), adding the pharma to a small group of companies exploring the cancer target for inflammatory and autoimmune indications. F-Star will receive up to $12 million in near-term payments and is eligible for over $300 million in milestones, plus single digit royalties, and retains rights to the STING agonists it’s developing for cancer.

If FDA approves tezepelumab from Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and AZ to treat severe asthma, the therapy could substantially expand the use of biologics in severe asthma beyond the subset of patients addressed by marketed therapies. FDA granted the companies’ BLA priority review and set a PDUFA date during 1Q22; a specific date is not disclosed. The application included results of the pivotal NAVIGATOR trial, which demonstrated that the mAb against TSLP significantly reduced the annualized asthma exacerbation rate (AAER) regardless of eosinophil count status...