Sept. 6 Quick Takes: Patient Square again fuels Apollo’s mission in $226.5M series C

Patient Square Capital led a new $226.5 million series C round for Apollo Therapeutics Ltd., in which the firm had already held a controlling stake since leading its series B round in 2021. Also participating were M&G plc, two U.S. pension funds and existing investor Rock Springs Capital. Founded in 2015, and initially backed by pharmas to advance programs emanating from three U.K. universities, Apollo had amassed a portfolio spanning oncology, immunology and rare diseases; ClinicalTrials.gov names Apollo as the sponsor of a terminated Phase I study of anti-IL-18 antibody camoteskimab to treat inflammatory disorder Still disease.

In a notice filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Astellas announced that it has withdrawn its lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug negotiation program. In the company’s complaint, filed in July, it stated that Xtandi enzalutamide would be included in the first cohort of drugs selected for price-setting, and that its Myrbetriq mirabegron might also be on the list. Neither drug was included in the initial list of drugs CMS released Aug. 29...