UCB’s Candid buy, Grand Rounds, IPOs and leukodystrophy — a BioCentury podcast

$2B takeout for San Diego company keeps T cell engagers in the spotlight

UCB S.A. is the latest biopharma player to consummate a multibillion-dollar deal amid a surge in biotech M&A activity, acquiring Ken Song’s Candid Therapeutics Inc., a company that emerged via the “NewCo” model to become one of the leading T cell engager companies. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s analysts discuss the $2 billion takeout and the opportunity in the TCE space.

BioCentury’s analysts also assess the drug development landscape for leukodystrophies, where more than two dozen biotechs are now matching therapeutic modalities to the genes, pathways and cell types driving distinct forms of white matter disease.

Plus, IPOs on NASDAQ by a trio of biotechs exceeded expectations last week, lifting hopes that the window for new listings is broadening and overall risk in the sector is on the wane.

Looking ahead to June, the analysts also preview the third BioCentury Grand Rounds U.S. conference,  a translational research-focused meeting that brings together investors, pharma leaders, emerging biotechs, and academics to discuss opportunities and bottlenecks in disease biology discovery, therapeutic modality design, and enabling technology engineering.

This episode of BioCentury This Week is brought to you by Jeito Capital.