On April 16, 2026 Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIR) reported that its global collaboration and licensing agreement with Astellas announced on February 23, 2026 has closed following expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. The collaboration aims to accelerate the development of VIR-5500, a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted, PRO-XTEN dual-masked T-cell engager (TCE) for metastatic prostate cancer.

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Summary Financial Terms

Upon closing, Vir Biotechnology receives a $240 million upfront payment and a $75 million equity investment at a price of $10.36 per share. The Company will also receive a near-term $20 million milestone payment, will split U.S. profit/loss equally with Astellas (50/50), and is eligible to receive up to an additional $1.37 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones, along with tiered, double-digit royalties on ex-U.S. net sales. Under the terms of Vir Biotechnology’s licensing agreement with Sanofi, a portion of certain collaboration proceeds will be shared with Sanofi.

About VIR-5500

T-cell engagers (TCEs) are powerful anti-tumor agents that can direct the immune system, specifically T-cells, to destroy cancer cells. VIR-5500 is an investigational PRO-XTEN dual-masked TCE currently being evaluated in an open-label, non-randomized Phase 1 clinical trial (NCT05997615) designed to assess the safety, pharmacokinetics and preliminary efficacy in participants with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). VIR-5500 is the only dual-masked PSMA-targeting TCE in clinical evaluation.

VIR-5500 combines a bispecific PSMA and CD3 binding TCE with the PRO-XTEN masking technology. The PRO-XTEN masking technology is designed to keep the TCEs inactive (or masked) until they reach the tumor microenvironment, where tumor-specific proteases cleave off the mask and activate the TCEs, leading to killing of cancer cells by T-cells. By confining the activity to the tumor microenvironment, we aim to circumvent the traditionally high toxicity associated with unmasked TCEs and increase their efficacy and tolerability. Additionally, the mask is designed to help drug candidates stay in the bloodstream longer in their inactive form, allowing them to better reach the site of action and potentially allowing for less frequent dosing regimens.

(Press release, Vir Biotechnology, APR 16, 2026, View Source [SID1234664447])

On April 16, 2026 Geminii, Inc., a company developing bioelectronic medicines, reported that it will present new data at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2026 in San Diego highlighting its non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) program. The poster, titled "Bioelectromagnetic reprogramming of tumor-immune metabolism to selectively destroy NSCLC," will be presented on April 22, 2026.

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The data to be presented show that Geminii’s bioelectronic therapy slowed tumor growth, extended survival, and enhanced the activity of chemoradiation in multiple preclinical NSCLC models without toxicity to healthy tissue. The studies also show increased markers consistent with tumor-cell damage and evidence of increased immune activation in the tumor microenvironment.

Geminii is developing a non-invasive bioelectronic therapy designed to work alongside existing cancer treatments. The company believes these findings support the potential of its platform to address cancer through a differentiated mechanism, expand the reach of its platform beyond metabolic disease into oncology, and potentially open a new avenue for home-based cancer treatment delivered during sleep.

"These findings are exciting not only because they highlight a differentiated approach in NSCLC, but also because they suggest our platform may extend beyond metabolic disease into oncology," said Calvin Carter, PhD, CEO of Geminii. "We believe this work supports the broader potential of bioelectronic medicine and may help open a new avenue for at-home, sleep-compatible cancer therapy. These data support the advancement of our bioelectronic platform toward clinical development."

For more information and to view the Company’s abstract, visit the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting website.

Poster Presentation Details Title: Bioelectromagnetic reprogramming of tumor-immune metabolism to selectively destroy NSCLC
Poster Number: 7793
Session Category: Clinical Research
Session Title: Immunomodulatory Agents and Interventions
Date/Time: April 22, 2026, 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. PT
Location: Poster Section 43, Board 21

(Press release, Geminii Health, APR 16, 2026, View Source [SID1234664446])

On April 16, 2026 Elephas Biosciences Corporation (Elephas), a private company that has developed the elive ex vivo tumor profiling platform, reported a scientific collaboration with Mithrl, an AI company focused on accelerating research through its Scientific Decision Engine (SDE). Combining these innovative approaches establishes a foundation for integrating functional tumor profiling with AI-driven analysis to support more scalable and systematic discovery of novel immunotherapy response signals.

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The Elephas elive platform captures real-time cytokine responses from live tumor fragments of core needle biopsies. Pairing the elive platform with Mithrl’s SDE enables autonomous design and execution of multi-step scientific analyses under rigorous controls.

Along with Mithrl, Elephas will be co-presenting new data from this collaboration at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, highlighting the potential of combining real-time functional tumor profiling with multi-modal data analysis to generate biologically meaningful insights more efficiently.

Poster Presentation: Multi-agent-augmented analysis of PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor response (Abstract #5695)
Date/Time: April 20, 2026, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST
Location: Section 40

Learn more on the poster here: View Source!/21436/presentation/9781

"Partnering with Mithrl enables us to more fully leverage the richness of our functional profiling data and showcase the power of Agentic AI," said Hinco Gierman, CSO of Elephas. "By integrating these data with external datasets, we’re incredibly impressed with the speed at which Mithrl is able to generate novel insights that can better understand the biology of response and generate insights that may help guide translational research and therapeutic development."

"Collaborating with Elephas allows us to pair their unprecedented real-time tumor profiling from live tumor biopsies with Mithrl’s SDE to unlock deep biological insights that would otherwise remain elusive or take months to surface. I believe this combination exemplifies the future of translational research," said Vivek Adarsh, Co-Founder and CEO of Mithrl.

(Press release, Elephas Biosciences, APR 16, 2026, View Source [SID1234664445])

On April 16, 2026 Bold Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that was founded to develop and commercialize novel metallotherapeutics, reported new data highlighting the ability of its lead asset, BOLD-100, to demonstrate protective effects against chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

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BOLD-100 is a first-in-class, ruthenium-based anticancer agent in Phase 2 clinical development for advanced gastrointestinal (GI) cancers in combination with the chemotherapy regimen FOLFOX. BOLD-100 plus FOLFOX improves overall survival and progression-free survival in patients, including advanced colon (mCRC), gastric (GC), and bile duct cancers (BTC). While FOLFOX is a standard-of-care therapy for GI cancers, its clinical utility is limited by acute and chronic peripheral neuropathies which present in the majority of patients. Remarkably, in the ongoing Phase 2 development of BOLD-100, significantly lower than expected incidence of oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (OIPN) was observed in patients treated with BOLD-100 plus FOLFOX. Compared to FOLFOX alone historical benchmarks, BOLD-100 plus FOLFOX any-grade neuropathy was:

Colorectal Cancer; 14% vs 53% benchmark
Biliary tract cancer; 35% vs 58% benchmark
Gastric Cancer; 19% vs 63% benchmark
"These clinical findings are promising given the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy among patients undergoing chemotherapy," said Mark Bazett, PhD, Senior Director of Preclinical Development. "The potential to improve patient outcomes while simultaneously improving quality of life is a key differentiating characteristic of BOLD-100. Our upcoming AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) presentation validates these important results in a range of preclinical models, and provides mechanistic understanding."

Bold Therapeutics will be attending the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual meeting later this month in San Diego from April 17-22, where they will present advanced in vivo and in vitro preclinical modelling of BOLD-100’s neuroprotection, along with mechanism of action data.

Abstract Title: Clinical-stage Anticancer Agent BOLD-100 Demonstrates Protective Effects Against Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy
Session Time: April 21, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Poster Section 14; Poster Board 11
Presentation Number: 5753

Abstract link: View Source

Bold Therapeutics is currently advancing BOLD-100 through a global Phase 2 randomized controlled trial across sites in Canada, European Union, and South Korea. This trial is investigating BOLD-100’s anticancer efficacy but also includes important quality of life questionnaires focused on its neuroprotective potential. Please visit ClinicalTrials.gov for more information (NCT04421820).

(Press release, Bold Therapeutics, APR 16, 2026, View Source [SID1234664444])

On April 16, 2026 Mabwell (688062.SH), an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company with a fully integrated industry chain, reported that it has established a licensing and commercialization agreement with a strategic business partner ("the partner") in Malaysia for its Denosumab biosimilar products MAILISHU (a biosimilar of Prolia) and MAIWEIJIAN (a biosimilar of Xgeva) ("the products"). Under the agreement, the partner is responsible for the registration and commercialization of the products in Malaysia, while Mabwell is responsible for the development, production and commercial supply for the products.

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Malaysia has a population of approximately 35.97 million, with a GDP at a leading level in Southeast Asia. As a full member of PIC/S, Malaysia boasts the most mature and well-regulated pharmaceutical regulatory framework in the ASEAN region. In terms of the pharmaceutical market, Malaysia’s market size stood at approximately USD 3.4 billion in 2025, maintaining a compound annual growth rate of about 6%, indicating big market potential.

Mr. Huiguo Hu, Board Member, Senior Vice President and Board Secretary of Mabwell, said, "We are delighted to see that we have reached a collaboration on denosumab in another ASEAN country. Malaysia has an internationally aligned regulatory environment, strong regional recognition and significant space for development. This collaboration will further deepen Mabwell’s presence in the ASEAN market. We look forward to rapidly advancing the product’s local registration and commercialization with our partner’s strong commercial capabilities, bring high-quality, affordable treatment options to more patients in the region."

(Press release, Mabwell Biotech, APR 16, 2026, View Source [SID1234664443])