July 29 Quick Takes: Frazier, Takeda team up again, launching vaccine play HilleVax
With 133% gain, Icosavax leads trio of biotechs onto NASDAQ; plus Zerhouni, Nabel start-up ModeX and more
HilleVax Inc., the third start-up pairing an asset from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4502; NYSE:TAK) with funding from Frazier Healthcare Partners, launched Thursday to develop and commercialize norovirus vaccine candidate HIL-214 outside of Japan. Takeda, which will continue developing vaccines for dengue, COVID-19, pandemic influenza and Zika, will receive undisclosed upfront “consideration” and is eligible for milestones and royalties. The virus-like particle-based vaccine has been assessed in nine studies, including a Phase IIb field efficacy study in 4,712 adults in which it demonstrated clinical proof of concept in preventing acute gastroenteritis from norovirus infection.
Financing for the newco will be disclosed at a later date, Frazier’s David Socks told BioCentury. In 2019, the partners launched Phathom Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:PHAT) with $90 million to develop a GI asset...