Drug Discovery and Development

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) said today that its Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos. has forged a partnership with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) to support coronavirus vaccine development. Janssen and the virology lab led by Dr. Dan Barouch at BIDMC have started preclinical testing of multiple vaccine prospects, with the goal of identifying a COVID-19…

Evonetix announced today that it closed a $30 million Series B funding round as it develops technology for enabling gene synthesis on a chip. The Cambridge, U.K.-based synthetic biology company said the funding round, led by new investor Foresite Capital, is slated to fund the company through to the introduction of its desktop DNA platform,…

A Phase 1 clinical trial for an investigational COVID-19 vaccine is underway at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. The open-label trial plans to enroll 45 healthy adults aged 18 to 55 years over a six week period. The first study participant received the vaccine yesterday. Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research…

Phase 3 cancer immunotherapy company Cel-Sci (NYSE:CVM) announced today that it priced an underwritten public offering of common stock with expected gross proceeds of $5.5 million. Vienna, Va.–based Cel-Sci is offering 606,395 shares of common stock at a price of $9.07 per share to total the $5.5 million before deducting underwriting discounts and other estimated expenses. The…