I-Mab morphs into ‘hub-and-spoke’ biotech; Astellas passes on Taysha gene therapy

Group 1: I-Mab Biopharma and Taysha Gene Therapies - I-Mab Biopharma will change its name to NovaBridge Biosciences and pursue an initial public offering in Hong Kong, transforming into a "hub-and-spoke" company with drugmaking subsidiaries [2] - NovaBridge will have a newly formed "spoke" called Visara, which will acquire an experimental eye drug currently in Phase 2 testing in China [2] - Taysha Gene Therapies has regained rights to an experimental gene therapy for Rett Syndrome after Astellas Pharma declined to license the treatment, which has helped Taysha secure a breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA [2] Group 2: Funding and Collaborations - Veradermics raised $140 million in a Series C round to fund the development of an oral version of minoxidil, with funding led by SR One and participation from at least 10 other firms [2] - Sanofi announced a collaboration with EVOQ Therapeutics to discover new drugs that induce "immune tolerance" in autoimmune conditions, with EVOQ potentially receiving over $500 million in payments and royalties [2]