Voro Therapeutics and Alloy Therapeutics Enter Strategic Research Collaboration to Advance Next-Generation Masked T-Cell Engager Therapeutics

On June 18, 2026 Voro Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing tumor-activated biologics designed to improve the therapeutic index of immune therapies and Alloy Therapeutics, a biotechnology ecosystem company dedicated to empowering the global biologics community, reported a strategic research collaboration focused on the discovery and development of next-generation masked T-cell engager (TCE) therapeutics.

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The collaboration combines Voro’s proprietary tumor-activated biologics platform and experience in T-cell engager development with Alloy’s optimized CD3 antibodies and multispecific engineering expertise to develop novel immunotherapies designed to selectively activate immune responses within the tumor microenvironment while minimizing activity in healthy tissues.

TCEs have demonstrated significant therapeutic potential across a broad range of cancers but are often limited by systemic toxicities associated with widespread immune activation. Through this collaboration, Voro and Alloy aim to advance novel approaches that may improve the therapeutic index of TCE therapies, potentially enabling broader clinical utility and expanding the reach of immune-based cancer treatments.

"T-cell engagers have shown tremendous promise, but their broader impact has been constrained by the same challenge facing many powerful immune therapies: how to deliver potency without unacceptable systemic toxicity," said Ugur Eskiocak, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Voro Therapeutics. "We believe tumor-activated T-cell engagers represent the next evolution of the field. By combining Voro’s PrimeBody platform and TCE design expertise with Alloy’s discovery and multispecific engineering capabilities, we aim to create highly potent, tumor-selective therapies that broaden access for patients."

"We are excited to collaborate with Voro as they apply their innovative tumor-activated biologics platform to address important challenges in immuno-oncology. By integrating Voro’s differentiated linker and masking technologies with Alloy’s optimized CD3 antibodies and cell engager engineering expertise, we can accelerate the development of next-generation TCE’s with potentially best-in-class safety and efficacy. Partnerships like this demonstrate how Alloy’s discovery ecosystem can help enable the next generation of therapeutic innovation," said Mike Schmidt, CSO of Alloy Therapeutics.

This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to advancing innovative biologics and generating novel therapeutic approaches that expand the applicability of T-cell engager therapies, while further strengthening Voro’s growing ecosystem of strategic partners.

(Press release, Voro Therapeutics, JUN 18, 2026, View Source [SID1234668798])

RedHill Biopharma Announces Up To $19.4 Million Private Placement

On June 18, 2026 RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (Nasdaq: RDHL) ("RedHill" or the "Company"), a specialty biopharmaceutical company, reported that it has entered into a definitive agreement for the purchase and sale of an aggregate of 8,571,429 American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") (or ADS equivalents in lieu thereof), each ADS representing ten thousand (10,000) ordinary shares of the Company, series A-1 warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 8,571,429 ADSs and series A-2 warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 8,571,429 ADSs, at a combined purchase price of $0.70 per ADS (or ADS equivalent in lieu thereof) and accompanying warrants in a private placement. The Series A-1 warrants have an exercise price of $0.86 per ADS, are exercisable immediately and have a term of five years following the Effectiveness Date (as defined below), and the Series A-2 warrants have an exercise price of $0.70 per ADS, are exercisable immediately and have a term of 18 months following the Effectiveness Date. The private placement is expected to close on June 22, 2026, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

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H.C. Wainwright & Co. is acting as the exclusive placement agent for the offering.

The gross proceeds to the Company from this offering are expected to be approximately $6 million, before deducting the placement agent’s fees and other offering expenses payable by the Company. The potential additional gross proceeds to the Company from the series A-1 warrants and the series A-2 warrants, if fully exercised on a cash basis, will be approximately $13.4 million. No assurance can be given that any of the series warrants will be exercised, or that the Company will receive cash proceeds from the exercise of the series warrants.

The Company intends to use a portion of the net proceeds to support a potential strategic product acquisition and the balance for working capital, research and development and general corporate purposes.

No definitive acquisition agreement has been executed, and any such transaction would remain subject to completion of definitive documentation, financing and other customary conditions. There can be no assurance that any such transaction will be completed.

The securities described above were offered in a private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and/or Regulation D promulgated thereunder and, along with the ordinary shares of the Company represented by ADSs underlying the warrants, have not been registered under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws. Accordingly, the securities issued in the private placement and ordinary shares of the Company represented by ADSs underlying the warrants may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and such applicable state securities laws. Pursuant to a registration rights agreement with the investors, the Company has agreed to file a resale registration statement covering the securities described above (such date of effectiveness of the resale registration statement, the "Effectiveness Date").

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

(Press release, RedHill Biopharma, JUN 18, 2026, View Source [SID1234668797])

AIM ImmunoTech Achieves Clinical Milestone as Final Subject Receives First Dose in Phase 2 DURIPANC Study in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

On June 18, 2026 AIM ImmunoTech Inc. (NYSE American: AIM) ("AIM" or the "Company") reported that the final subject has received their first dose in the Phase 2 DURIPANC clinical trial evaluating Ampligen (rintatolimod) in combination with AstraZeneca’s anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor Imfinzi (durvalumab) for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer.

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With this final subject, Primary Endpoint analysis is anticipated to begin in December 2026 and topline results are anticipated in Q1 2027. DURIPANC’s primary endpoint is Clinical Benefit Rate ("CBR"), defined as the proportion of patients achieving stable disease, partial response or complete response at 24 weeks following initiation of combination therapy.

Analysis of Secondary Endpoints is expected to begin in June 2027, or 49 weeks after this final subject received their first dose. DURIPANC’s Secondary Endpoints include Overall Survival ("OS") – the gold standard in oncology trials – as well as progression-free survival and immune profiling analysis that could potentially help identify subsets of future pancreatic cancer patients likely to experience the best survival results, which could be critical to the design of a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial.

AIM Chief Executive Officer Thomas K. Equels stated: "AIM hopes to utilize the exploratory biomarker data generated through DURIPANC to design a Phase 3 study involving Ampligen in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. We are particularly interested in evaluating whether specific biomarkers may help to identify ‘super-responder’ patient subsets most likely to benefit from Ampligen-based therapy, thus supporting a more targeted and personalized treatment approach."

DURIPANC is a follow-up to the AIM/Erasmus Medical Center Named Patient Program utilizing Ampligen as a monotherapy in late-stage pancreatic cancer, where data suggested impressive improvements in survival, particularly when broken down by biomarker stratifications:

Based upon stratification for immune marker Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratios less than 4.5, Progression-Free Survival ("PFS") of 17.7 months compared to 8.6 months for historical controls, for an improvement of 9.1 months in PFS
Based upon stratification for immune marker Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratios less than 4.5, OS of 34.8 months compared to 12.5 months for historical controls, for an improvement of 22.3 months in OS
Based upon stratification for immune marker CA 19-9 less than 1000, PFS of 13.1 months compared to 8.6 months for historical controls, for an improvement of 4.5 months in PFS
Based upon stratification for immune marker CA 19-9 less than 1000, OS of 24.1 months compared to 12.5 months for historical controls, for an improvement of 11.6 months in OS
These results were accompanied by consistent reports of improved quality of life.

About DURIPANC

DURIPANC is an investigator-initiated, exploratory, open-label, single-center Phase 2 study. The clinical trial is a joint collaboration between AIM, AstraZeneca and Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. In addition to the Primary Endpoint of clinical benefit rate, the secondary/exploratory objectives include assessing overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS); exploring immune-monitoring using available tissue biopsies and peripheral immune profiling; and assessing quality of life.

Read more about the DURIPANC study at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05927142.

(Press release, AIM ImmunoTech, JUN 18, 2026, View Source [SID1234668796])

Deflexifol® Paediatric Clinical Trial: Ethics Approval Enabling Phase II

On June 18, 2026 FivepHusion, an advanced clinical-stage biotechnology company, reported that an independent Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) has approved progression to phase II of the Deflexifol at Relapse Trial (DART). The phase II trial is investigating Deflexifol monotherapy as a treatment for refractory or recurrent paediatric ependymoma. This HREC approval follows the successful completion of the phase I DART study in 2025 and incorporation of a recommended phase II dose and other updates into the phase II trial protocol.
Key design elements of the phase II DART study include:

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A multi-centre single-arm clinical trial involving all major paediatric oncology centres in Australia, with patients enrolled to determine the objective response rate to Deflexifol.
Recruitment of ten evaluable participants (aged 1-21 years) with refractory or recurrent paediatric ependymoma, including three participants currently evaluable from the phase I study.
Primary Objective: To evaluate the anti-tumour activity of Deflexifol as a single agent in patients with refractory or recurrent ependymoma.
Secondary Objectives: To assess overall survival and progression-free survival, and to further characterise the pharmacokinetics of Deflexifol monotherapy.
The phase II DART study is an Australian trial led by Principal Investigators Professor David Ziegler and Dr Marion Mateos and sponsored by the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Haematology / Oncology Group (ANZCHOG) in collaboration with FivepHusion. The phase II study follows the successful completion of the phase I DART study, the results of which were presented as a poster in November 2025 at the Society of Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. The phase II trial is designed to investigate Deflexifol monotherapy as a treatment for refractory or recurrent paediatric ependymoma. The trial is coordinated by the KOALA National Coordinating Centre at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network and all major Australian paediatric oncology centres are participating in the study. Significant trial funding has been provided by the Kids with Cancer Foundation and the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation.

Dr Christian Toouli, CEO and Managing Director of FivepHusion commented, "Paediatric ependymoma is the third most common brain cancer in children, and with no approved drugs to treat this condition, presents a significant unmet medical need for a safe and efficacious therapy. The ethics approval of the Phase II DART protocol is an exciting milestone towards our goal of evaluating Deflexifol as a promising therapy for these patients."

Deflexifol is an innovative next-generation novel co-formulation of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin (LV), a drug that significantly enhances 5-FU anti-tumour activity. Deflexifol has previously been evaluated in the phase I DART study in paediatric brain cancer patients and two successfully completed clinical trials in adults with a variety of solid tumours. FivepHusion is harnessing the proven cytotoxic activity of 5-FU together with the unique, optimised attributes of the Deflexifol co-formulation to pursue Deflexifol development in a range of strategic solid tumour indications presenting with significant unmet medical needs, including paediatric ependymoma.

Ependymomas are rare central nervous system tumours (annual incidence of ~4 patients per million) that are more common in young children 0-4 years of age. The current standard treatment for ependymoma is surgery and radiotherapy, though relapse occurs in one third of all paediatric patients and is associated with a poor prognosis. Currently, there are no therapeutic drugs approved for the treatment of ependymoma, presenting a significant unmet medical need for the development of safe and efficacious new treatments for this disease.

Previously, 5-FU has been reported as a promising drug candidate for the treatment of paediatric ependymoma by independent research groups1,2, and in a clinical trial conducted at the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis, Tennessee, USA)3. Recently, independent studies have gained further insights into understanding the susceptibility of paediatric ependymoma to 5-FU4. Research by FivepHusion collaborators indicates that Deflexifol, as a novel optimised co-formulation of 5-FU and LV, may be efficacious against paediatric ependymoma and other brain cancers. Due to its superior safety, tolerability and anti-tumour efficacy, Deflexifol offers the exciting opportunity to address the limitations of current 5-FU formulations to enable development as potentially the first approved drug for ependymoma and possibly other brain tumours.

(Press release, FivepHusion, JUN 18, 2026, View Source [SID1234668795])

Gandeeva and Zymeworks Use Cryo-EM to Accelerate Antibody Drug Discovery

On June 18, 2026 Gandeeva Therapeutics, Inc., a biotech at the forefront of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM)–driven drug design, and Zymeworks Inc. (Nasdaq: ZYME), a global biotechnology company, reported to have partnered to visualize structures of antibody-antigen interfaces at high resolution.

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While cryo-EM is now used routinely to determine structures of antibody complexes formed with compact and well-folded antigens, mapping antibody epitope footprints on small and flexible antigens remains highly challenging. In a new advance, Gandeeva scientists have determined the structure of a small and flexible antigen (< 20 kDa) bound to the Fab fragment of an antibody developed at Zymeworks. Of note, the team was able to visualize the nine amino acids that form the antibody-binding epitope at 2.6 Å resolution. The rest of the antigen is highly flexible and was not resolved in the reconstruction.

"Knowledge of the precise interactions at the binding interface of these types of challenging targets is incredibly useful for us in selecting antibody leads and provides us with crucial insights for the optimization of biologics", said Dr. Paul Moore, Chief Scientific Officer of Zymeworks.

"Our ability to obtain near-atomic resolution cryo-EM structures of the antibody binding epitope within flexible and structurally intractable proteins is a game-changer, especially in the context of accelerating design of AI-driven antibodies", said Dr. Sriram Subramaniam, Founder and CEO of Gandeeva Therapeutics. "Experimental validation by high-resolution and high-throughput cryo-EM using Gandeeva’s platform provides exactly the kind of rapid feedback that is essential for testing and validating antibodies derived by immunization and by computational design."

(Press release, Gandeeva Therapeutics, JUN 18, 2026, View Source [SID1234668794])