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What’s in Today’s Brief? (October 19th Preview)
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Merck KGaA buys RNAi biotech Silence Therapeutics
Merck KGaA agreed to acquire Silence Therapeutics in a deal valued at about $1.3 billion, expanding the German pharma’s push into RNA medicines and rare, high-unmet-need diseases. The acquisition brings Silence’s siRNA pipeline under Merck KGaA control and targets a pivotal path for its lead candidate in polycythemia vera (PV). Silence’s program centers on divesiran, a short-interfering RNA therapy backed by positive Phase 2 data in PV. The transaction also reflects escalating competition in PV, where the current standard includes Takeda’s Mimrylo and established therapies such as Incyte’s Jakafi. Under the announced terms, Merck KGaA plans to pay $20 in cash for each U.S.-listed Silence share, implying a premium to the prior trading price. Merck expects deal closing in the first quarter of 2027 and will move forward with a Phase 3 development plan for divesiran. The buyout underscores how drugmakers are using M&A to de-risk late-stage execution in RNA modalities—while also building scale for expensive confirmatory trials in crowded rare-disease segments.
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Sanofi partners with ScionxBio for long-acting RNA discovery screening
Sanofi struck its first partnership with ScionxBio to screen Sanofi’s mRNA candidates using ScionxBio’s platform for longer-acting RNA approaches. The collaboration is positioned around early discovery and candidate selection rather than late-stage clinical development. The move signals Sanofi’s continued effort to extend the durability and dosing convenience of nucleic-acid medicines, where delivery and pharmacokinetics often determine real-world usability. By tying up partner screening capabilities, Sanofi aims to compress early selection cycles for candidates that better match long-acting profiles. For the RNA ecosystem, the deal highlights how platform-focused companies are increasingly bundling discovery capacity with big-pharma pipeline expansion. It also reinforces that long-acting RNA remains a priority modality category as developers compete on dosing interval and patient convenience.
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A*STAR and HistoIndex team up to accelerate fibrosis drug development
Singapore’s A*STAR signed a memorandum of understanding with HistoIndex to use quantitative, AI-driven digital pathology for evaluating preclinical therapeutic candidates in fibrotic diseases. The collaboration focuses on building an end-to-end evaluation workflow for fibrosis programs, including cancer-associated fibrosis. HistoIndex’s technology is designed to reduce variability in histopathology assessment by extracting quantitative readouts from tissue images—turning subjective scoring into measurable metrics. A*STAR’s involvement brings academic research scale and fibrosis biology expertise into the screening/evaluation loop. The agreement matters for drug development timelines because fibrosis programs often face translation friction: robust biomarkers and consistent preclinical endpoints are hard to achieve. By standardizing evaluation through digital pathology, the partners aim to make preclinical decision-making more reproducible.
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Estuary Biotherapeutics raises $103M for kidney-targeted AAV gene therapy in ADPKD
Estuary Biotherapeutics launched with $103 million to develop locally delivered AAV gene therapies targeting autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). The financing includes a $93 million Series A led by RA Capital Management and a $10 million seed round co-led by 4BIO Capital and GV. Estuary is advancing two lead programs aimed at restoring polycystin levels across the nephron—aiming for potentially one-time treatment approaches that differ from the current standard of care, which primarily slows progression rather than correcting the underlying biology. Otsuka’s tolvaptan (Jynarque) remains the only FDA-approved ADPKD drug. Estuary’s thesis is that drug delivery, not only target biology, has been a limiting factor for kidney gene therapy. The capital injection funds clinical proof-of-concept work and supports further development of its kidney-targeting platform, while syndicate participants include Deep Track Capital, Biogen New Ventures, and the National Kidney Foundation Innovation Fund.
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Nouscom lands $135M Series D to advance neoantigen cancer interception
Nouscom raised $135 million in an oversubscribed Series D round to accelerate NOUS-209, its off-the-shelf neoantigen-based immunotherapy for cancer interception. The company’s lead focus is a global registration-enabling clinical trial in Lynch syndrome carriers, aiming to prevent progression to advanced adenomas or colorectal cancer. The FDA granted Fast Track designation to the program, and Nouscom plans to push development toward a Phase 2 study. The financing co-led by M Ventures and Revelation Partners also brought in Angelini Industries and funding from the European Investment Bank through a co-investment facility. At a scientific level, Nouscom’s program is tied to long-term follow-up results expected to be unveiled at ESMO, where the company previously reported that evaluable Lynch syndrome carriers receiving NOUS-209 remained free of advanced adenomas and colorectal cancer at one and two years in the Phase Ib/II trial cohort. For investors and biotech strategists, the round reinforces continued institutional appetite for prevention-oriented immunotherapy, especially when tied to identifiable genetic risk populations.
...and 5 more selected Biotech stories in today’s full edition — or archive.
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