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Venture Investor Eclipse Seeks Solutions for Drug Manufacturing
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By Brian Gormley, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Most biotechnology investors seek to finance drug discovery. Venture firm Eclipse is pursuing opportunities in a less-heralded part of the biotech market.
Eclipse backs startups innovating in physical industries. In biotech, one target is technology that improves drug manufacturing, especially the production of emerging treatments such as immune-cell therapy and radiopharmaceuticals, said Partner Justin Butler.
These treatments are some of the most promising in biotech, but they also present hurdles for drugmakers. Radioactive material in radiopharmaceuticals decays rapidly, for example, creating supply-chain difficulties for radiopharmaceutical companies. Immune-cell therapies made from patients’ own cells, meanwhile, are complex because they must be manufactured and delivered back to the patient in a short period.
Eclipse-backed Cellares has developed automated technology for cell-therapy production. Another Eclipse portfolio company, Nucleus RadioPharma, provides contract development and manufacturing services for radiopharmaceutical companies.
One obstacle to investing in manufacturing is that relatively few venture capitalists focus on this segment of the biotech industry. But Eclipse has found that some biotech specialists and manufacturing-focused investors have been willing to join drug-manufacturing deals.
After raising Series A financing from Eclipse in 2019, for example, Cellares attracted biotech investor Decheng Capital to its Series B and Koch Disruptive Technologies, the venture division of industrial conglomerate Koch Industries, to its Series C round.
Eclipse continues to search for manufacturing and infrastructure opportunities in biotech.
“You can have the most amazing drug in the world,” Butler said. “If you can’t manufacture it, if you can’t distribute it, it doesn’t matter.”
And now on to the news...
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Novartis is moving ahead with its own in-house obesity program that is at an early stage of development and has yet to enter human clinical trials, CEO Vas Narasimhan said. PHOTO: ARND WIEGMANN/REUTERS
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Novartis has set a high bar for any potential obesity-treatment acquisition as it scans the market for deals to fill its drug pipeline and power sales growth into the 2030s, its chief executive said, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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The Swiss pharmaceutical company is on the lookout for next-generation obesity drug candidates, even if its main focus remains on therapeutic areas where it currently has an established presence, Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “The bar is very high, we need to find something that’s truly differentiated, that brings something new,” Narasimhan said.
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The company’s position in RNA therapeutics, as well as in cell and gene therapies, make these areas more worthwhile to focus on from a merger-and-acquisition standpoint than a late entry into the obesity market, Narasimhan said.
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Nevertheless, Novartis’s appetite for obesity deals shows the industry is still hungry for the kind of treatments that have resulted in windfalls for Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Some companies have opted to develop weight-loss drugs internally, while others like Roche Holding and AstraZeneca acquired early-stage obesity candidates.
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$2.76 Billion
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The sales of Novo Nordisk weight-loss drug Wegovy in the fourth quarter.
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Novo Nordisk Outlook Provides Some Welcome Relief
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Novo Nordisk shares rose after the drugmaker reported strong sales growth for its blockbuster obesity and diabetes drugs and issued a forecast for full-year 2025 results that topped analysts’ expectations, WSJ reports. Investors who had become concerned about an obesity market slowdown, as well as Novo’s competitive position, breathed a sigh of relief. “The story continues to be about market expansion for obesity,” said David Moore, president of Novo Nordisk’s U.S. unit, on a conference call with analysts. Heading into Wednesday’s report, investors had been increasingly concerned by the future of the obesity market in the U.S. after Eli Lilly, the company’s
biggest competitor in the booming weight-loss market, recently reported a sharp sales miss for its medications.
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Trump Considers Labeling Migrants a Measles, Tuberculosis Risk
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The Trump administration is considering a move to repel asylum seekers at the southern border on the basis that they might bring measles or tuberculosis infections with them into the U.S., current and former officials said, WSJ reports. President Trump’s advisers have been looking for evidence of disease threats that would merit reviving a policy they used during the pandemic in his first term to push back migrants who sought asylum at the border, the current and former officials said. The Trump administration sees the emergency health law, known as Title 42, as overriding laws that guarantee migrants a right to request humanitarian protection in the U.S.
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People
Patient-care coordination platform Watershed Health said Effie Carlson was named chief executive, while Chip Grant will transition to executive chair and chief medical officer.
Genvax Technologies, a startup focusing on bringing advances in RNA vaccine production to animal health, appointed Lucas Huntimer as chief scientific officer.
Exits
Teladoc Health has agreed to acquire Catapult Health, a provider of virtual preventive-care services, for an initial $65 million in cash. The deal, which includes up to $5 million in an additional contingent earnout consideration, is expected to close in the first quarter.
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Fay, a San Francisco-based digital nutritional therapy startup, scored $50 million in Series B funding at a $500 million valuation. Goldman Sachs led the round, which included participation from General Catalyst and Forerunner Ventures.
Auron Therapeutics, a Newton, Mass.-based biotechnology startup seeking to improve patient outcomes in oncology and inflammatory disease, closed a $27 million Series B round led by DCVC Bio.
Neurocare, a mental health platform, snagged a €19.3 million investment from Impact Expansion.
Enduro Genetics, a Copenhagen-based biomanufacturing startup, raised €12 million in Series A funding from Supernova Invest, NOON Ventures and Sandwater.
Little Otter, a San Francisco-based mental healthcare startup, picked up a $9.5 million investment from Pivotal Ventures, Torch Capital, Springbank, CRV and others.
Miist Therapeutics, an Alameda, Calif.-based startup developing inhaled medicines for the treatment of smoking addiction and migraine, was seeded with a $7 million investment from Refactor Capital and others.
SimpliFed, an Ithaca, N.Y.-based virtual maternal healthcare startup, added $4 million in new funding led by Morningside.
Solstice Health, a New York-based biopharma marketing platform, collected $3.5 million in seed funding from investors including Twelve Below and Virtue.
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Merck’s 2025 guidance fell short of Wall Street expectations. PHOTO: SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
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