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Biotech Briefs: Innovent, Erasca, Chai & More 

The latest from small and Emerging Pharma companies featuring Innovent Biologics, Spero Therapeutics, Erasca, Chai Discovery, AdvanCell, Attovia Therapeutics, Avere Therapeutics, NextCure, Celcuity, Orca Bio, Summit Therapeutics and Biossi. 

For news on the large and mid-sized bio/pharmaceutical companies, see Global Briefs. 

* Innovent, Spero in $1.1-Bn Pact for mAb Immune Drug 
* Erasca Seeks To Raise $550 M To Support Oncology Drug Pipeline 
* Chai Raises $400 M To Advance AI Drug-Design Model; In Pacts with argenx, Novartis 
* AdvanCell Raises $315 M To Support Radiopharma Pipeline 
* Attovia Therapeutics Files IPO To Support Biologics for Immune-Mediated Diseases 
* Avere Therapeutics, ADC Specialist Nextcure To Merge
* Celcuity Gains FDA Nod for Breast-Cancer Drug
* Orca Bio Gains FDA OK for T-Cell Immunotherapy 
* Summit Therapeutics To Sell Phase III Antibiotic Drug Candidate to Biossi 

Innovent, Spero in $1.1 Bn Pact for mAb Immune Drug 
Innovent Biologics, a Suzhou, China-based bio/pharmaceutical company, and Spero Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based bio/pharmaceutical company, have entered an exclusive license agreement for Spero’s IBI355, an anti-inflammatory drug candidate, in a deal worth up to $1.1 billion.  

IBI355 is a humanized, Fc-silent IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting CD40L, an upstream immune activation signal involved in B-cell, antigen-presenting cell, and platelet biology with the potential across a range of immune-mediated diseases. The drug is in development for treating IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD), a chronic fibroinflammatory condition that can affect multiple organs, including the pancreas, salivary glands, lacrimal glands, kidneys, lungs, lymph nodes, and other tissue, and for treating Sjögren’s disease (SjD) a chronic autoimmune disorder resulting in dry eyes and a dry mouth. Spero currently expects to advance IBI355 into a Phase II study in IgG4-RD patients in the second quarter of 2027, and Innovent expects to initiate a Phase II trial in China for SjD by early 2027. 

Under the license agreement, Spero will receive exclusive rights to develop, research, manufacture, and commercialize IBI355 worldwide, excluding Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), where Innovent retains right. Innovent will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, bringing total value of the deal to approximately $1.1 billion. Innovent is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales generated in Spero’s licensed territories. 

Source: Innovent Biologics 

Erasca Seeks To Raise $550 M To Support Oncology Drug Pipeline 
Erasca, a San Diego, California-based clinical-stage bio/pharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing therapies for patients with RAS/MAPK pathway-driven cancers, announced the pricing of an upsized public offering of 31.4 million shares of its common stock at a price of $17.50 per share with the goal of raising gross proceeds of $550 million. The company had earlier announced an initial public offering (IPO) with the goal of raising $500 million.  

Earlier this month (July 2026), the company reported clinical development plans for ERAS-0015, an investigational pan-RAS small-molecule drug that functions via a molecular glue mechanism, now in Phase I development and being evaluated in solid tumors, including for pancreatic and lung cancer. The company reported that it plans to initiate a Phase III trial in 2027 as a first-line treatment for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and plans to initiate a Phase III trial in the second half of 2027/first half of 2028 for RAS-mutated non-small-cell-lung cancer. The company is also developing ERAS-4001, a small-molecule drug for KRAS-related solid tumors in Phase I development.   

Source: Erasca  

Chai Raises $400 M To Advance AI Drug-Design Model; In Pacts with argenx, Novartis 
Chai Discovery, a San Francisco, California-based company providing AI-enabled drug-discovery and design models, has raised $400 million in  Series C financing, which values the company at $3.8 billion. Chai Discovery builds generative AI software that can predict and reprogram the interactions between biochemical molecules to enable design of biomolecules with specific functional properties. 

Separately, the company also announced a collaboration agreement with argenx, an Amsterdam-headquartered bio/pharmaceutical company, to apply de novo antibody discovery across therapeutic targets. In addition, the company announced an agreement with Novartis under which Novartis will gain access to Chai’s latest AI models, including the Chai-3 model, to support Novartis in the discovery of antibodies for therapeutic programs across multiple targets. 

Source: Chai Discovery (financing);  Chai Discovery (argenx), and Chai Discovery (Novartis) 

AdvanCell Raises $315 M To Support Radiopharma Pipeline 
AdvanCell, a Richlands, Australia-based clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing targeted alpha therapies for cancer, has raised $315 million in oversubscribed and upsized Series D financing.  

AdvanCell has a vertically integrated platform centered on its proprietary Lead-212 technology that combines isotope supply, automated manufacturing, and scalable production. The financing will be used to support ADVC001, the company’s investigational Lead-212 -targeted alpha therapy for metastatic prostate cancer in Phase II clinical development, expand AdvanCell’s proprietary Lead-212 platform, strengthen the company’s isotope supply and expand its US manufacturing infrastructure, and advance of AdvanCell’s pipeline of targeted alpha therapies. 

Source; AdvanCell 

Attovia Therapeutics Files IPO To Support Biologics for Immune-mediated Diseases 
Attovia Therapeutics, a San Carlos, California-based clinical-stage bio/pharmaceutical company developing biotherapeutics for immune-mediated diseases, has filed an initial public offering (IPO ). 

 Founded in 2023, the ‌company ⁠develops biologic therapies for immune-mediated diseases using its ATTOBODY platform. The company’s pipeline includes ATTO-1310, a therapeutic targeting interleukin-31 (IL-31) that completed dosing in a Phase I clinical trial in the first quarter of 2026, and ATTO-2306, a bispecific targeting interleukin-13 (IL-13) and IL-31 that is in investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies and that is expected to begin a Phase I clinical trial in the first half of 2027. The company’s pipeline also includes ATTO-1091,a trispecific Fc fusion protein currently in IND-enabling studies. 

Source: Attovia Therapeutics 

Avere Therapeutics, ADC Specialist Nextcure To Merge 
NextCure, a Beltsville, Maryland-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on antibody drug conjugates, and Avere Therapeutics, a clinical-stage bio/pharmaceutical company advancing oral therapies for inflammatory diseases, have agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction.  

Avere is led by a executive team that guided Akero Therapeutics from pre-IPO through its sale to Novo Nordisk for up to $5.2 billion in December 2025. Avere Therapeutics’ lead program, AVR-001, is a oral peptide interleukin-23 (IL-23) receptor antagonist, in Phase Ib development for treating psoriasis, with potential to expand into multiple indications, including ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and psoriatic arthritis. Avere also received a concurrent $320-million private placement, which is expected to fully fund company operations through the readout of a global Phase IIb trial in psoriasis, commencement of a Phase III trial in psoriasis, and commencement of a Phase IIb trial in ulcerative colitis. 

Avere recently completed a global, ex-Greater China exclusive licensing agreement with Hansoh Pharma, a China-based bio/pharmaceutical company, granting Avere ex-China rights for the development, manufacture, and commercialization of AVR-001. In exchange, Hansoh will receive upfront payments totaling $120 million and is eligible to receive up to $2.18 billion in customary development and sales milestones as well as mid-single to low-double digit sales royalty payments. 

The merger agreement has received approval by the Board of Directors of both companies and is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to certain closing conditions, including, among others, approval by the stockholders of each company, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. Upon completion of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the second half of 2026, the combined company is expected to operate as Avere Therapeutics and will be led by Dr. Andrew Cheng, Avere’s current Chief Executive Officer. 

Source: NextCure 

Celcuity Gains FDA Nod for Breast-Cancer Drug 
Celcuity,, a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based bio/pharmaceutical company, has received US Food and Drug Administration approval for gedatolisib for treating certain forms of breast cancer. The drug was approved in combination with fulvestrant, with or without palbociclib, for adults with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer without a PIK3CA mutation detected following progression on or after treatment with at least one line of endocrine therapy in the metastatic setting. 

Source: US Food and Drug Administration 

Orca Bio Gains FDA OK for T-Cell Immunotherapy 
Orca Biologics, a Menlo Park, California-based bio/pharmaceutical company, has received US Food and Drug Administration approval for an allogeneic regulatory T cell-based immunotherapy as a myeloablative preparative regime in stem-cell transplants and to improve chronic graft-versus-host disease-free survival in the treatment of adults with hematological malignancies. 

Source: US Food and Drug Administration 

Summit Therapeutics To Sell Phase III Antibiotic Drug Candidate to Biossi 
Summit Therapeutics, a Miami, Florida-based bio/pharmaceutical company, has signed an agreement with Biossil, a Toronto, Canada-based bio/pharmaceutical company, for the sale of ridinilazole, an investigational Phase III precision antibiotic for the treatment of C. difficile infection owned by Summit.  

Source: Summit Therapeutics