This week's look at what's happening in the region's life sciences industry includes details on a medical technology company's multimillion-dollar loan deal, the successful testing of a Covid-19 diagnostic product, an upcoming event focused on cancer care, and more.
Here's the roundup:
Tela Bio
The Chester County medical technology company has entered into a new credit facility with MidCap Financial that provides Tela Bio with up to $50 million in total credit.
A portion of the proceeds from the loan deal will be used to fully repay Tela Bio’s existing $30 million loan from OrbiMed Royalty Opportunities. The remaining proceeds, the company said, will be available for working capital needs and other corporate purposes.
Founded in 2012, Tela Bio (NASDAQ: TELA) of Malvern develops and markets tissue reinforcement materials for use in soft tissue reconstruction surgery. Its products include the OviTex line of reinforced tissue matrix for hernia repair and abdominal wall reconstruction.
Antony Koblish, CEO of Tela Bio, said proceeds from this loan will allow the company to "fund its current key business objectives and drive future growth initiatives, with minimal further capital required to be raised, if at all.”
The MidCap credit facility consists of an initial $40 million tranche that Tela Bio received at closing and a $10 million tranche that can be drawn at the company’s option upon meeting certain conditions that include reaching undisclosed net revenue thresholds by the end of the 2023.
In 2022, Tela Bio, which has 84 employees, generated revenue of $29.5 million and recorded a net loss of $33 million.
Senzo
The Philadelphia-based point-of-care and self-testing diagnostics company, which also has offices in London, reported it has achieved 100% accuracy with its amplified lateral flow Covid-19 antigen test.
The blind study was led by Dr. Thushan de Silva's team at the University of Sheffield in England. De Silva is an infectious disease specialist and Covid-19 researcher. The study showed Senzo's test has the ability to detect infection as early as with PCR tests, even at very low viral loads.
Unlike other at-home approaches aiming to achieve near this level of performance, the company noted, Senzo's test does not require any equipment or readers and remains inexpensive and simple.
"This study further validates that our ALF breakthrough is as accurate as PCR, finally allowing lateral flow rapid tests to be a viable alternative to central lab testing," said Jeremy Stackawitz, Senzo's CEO.
Stackawitz said the company's plan going forward it to leverage its ALF technology across more infectious diseases where central lab testing is currently required.
Taking on Cancer
The Philadelphia Business Journal is hosting a special event, "Taking on Cancer: How the Philadelphia region is leading the fight against the deadly disease" on June 23 at the City Winery at 990 Filbert St. in Center City.
I'll be hosting two panel sessions, one featuring the directors of the area's largest cancer centers and the other with top executives from some of the region's early-stage companies working on cancer therapies.
You can find more information and register for the event here.
Quick hits
The CIC Labs + Innovation Campus in Philadelphia has signed a sponsorship agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific under which Thermo Fisher will provide lab instruments, technology, and software to CIC tenants across 450 lab benches on four floors of lab space. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. … Yardley-based Optinose (NASDAQ: OPTN) announced that its chief financial officer, Keith A. Goldan, is leaving the Bucks County pharmaceutical company to accept a CFO opportunity at another undisclosed public company. Michele Janis, the company's vice president of finance, will serve as acting CFO. … Immunocore (NASDAQ: IMCR), which has offices in Conshohocken; Rockville, Maryland; and Oxfordshire, England, has entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Sanofi. Under the partnership, Sanofi will evaluate its new drug candidate SAR444245 in combination with Immunocore's Kimmtrak skin cancer drug, which was approved earlier this year, in patients with metastatic cutaneous melanoma. …Baudax Bio (NASDAQ: BXRX) of Malvern said the first cohort has been dosed in its Phase 1 clinical study evaluating the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of BX2000 — a rapid onset, ultra-short-acting neuromuscular blocking agent — in healthy volunteers. … Trevose-based Lannett Co. (NYSE: LCI) provided an update on its ongoing pivotal clinical trial of biosimilar insulin glargine, which it is co-developing with partners within the HEC Group of companies. The company said about one half of the planned number of subjects in the study have received the first of two doses and no serious adverse events have been reported. The company expects to announce results before the end of the year, and potentially file a biologics license application for the product in early 2023.
