After a slow start due to the COVID-19 pandemic, oncology dealmaking thrived in 2020 as immuno-oncology fueled a number of high-value drug licensing deals and a string of billion-dollar M&As were announced.

A surge of efforts focused on the drug target B cell maturation antigen could transform the treatment of multiple myeloma and help to establish the relative merits and optimization strategies for emerging treatment modalities with wider applications.

Our monthly roundup of 'business of science' stories from across Springer Nature’s portfolio of journals explores the relationships between academia, startups and big pharma, as well as following the progress of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Our monthly round up of key biopharma business stories from across Springer Nature’s portfolio of journals, including the latest on COVID-19 vaccines and a focus on oncology.

Our monthly roundup of 'business of science' stories from across Springer Nature’s portfolio of journals explores the relationships between academia, startups and big pharma, as well as following the progress of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Vincerx applies a modular approach in the development of antibody–drug conjugates by incorporating novel targeting and safety features. The company’s lead compounds exhibit high efficacies with minimal toxicities that are expected to improve therapeutic windows. Vincerx believes that partners with first-in-class antibodies, clinical stage antibodies or ADCs against promising targets will benefit from Vincerx’s next-generation payload-linker technologies.

Gene therapy company FerGene Inc. is developing products for the treatment of urologic cancers, the company’s lead product, nadofaragene firadenovec, uses a non-replicating adenovirus vector to deliver the gene for interferon alfa-2b into bladder cells for the treatment of bladder cancer.

With its plug-and-play cell therapy platform and complementary bispecific NK cell engagers, Cytovia aims to create both single and combination therapies for cancer treatment.

Amarna Therapeutics has developed SVec, a non-immunogenic viral vector platform for the development of candidates to treat genetic and autoimmune disorders, overcoming immune barriers to gene therapy delivery and unlocking autoimmunity by inducing tolerance.

Legend Biotech is advancing cell therapy platforms for hematologic malignancies, solid tumors, infectious and autoimmune diseases.

Sutro Biopharma combines its powerful cell-free protein synthesis platform with click chemistry to develop precisely engineered bioconjugate therapeutics for oncology.

Phosplatin Therapeutics is harnessing immunogenic cell death (ICD) as an alternative mechanism to existing cancer immunotherapy strategies. PT-112, Phosplatin’s lead ICD inducer, is in phase 2 clinical trials for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, and could be applicable to other indications, including rare and refractory forms of cancer.

Immunicum is exploiting the power of allogeneic dendritic cells to evoke immune responses that reduce tumor burden and recurrence.