Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH

Takeda will join five existing leading pharma company partners supporting and funding promising drug development startups. BASEL, Switzerland, Dec. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- BaseLaunch, a platform to launch, fund, and build early biotech ventures developing cutting-edge therapeutics, announced today Takeda has joined the Basel-based incubator, bringing the total number of leading pharma company partners to six. Continue Reading Landscape image of the Basel area’s booming biotech research centers. Photo credit: ©Kanton Basel-Stadt Photo: Raphael Alu Through its strategic investment in BaseLaunch, Takeda gains access to proven quality life sciences deal flow in central Europe and BaseLaunch`s company-building capabilities, while also providing expertise in biotech innovation and development of medicines. This will further help BaseLaunch develop its portfolio companies, which have collectively raised over $1 billion (USD). "We're thrilled to welcome Takeda to BaseLaunch. This partnership will significantly benefit our early-stage biotech ventures," noted Stephan Emmerth, Director of BaseLaunch. "Early stage funding, coupled with our company-building capabilities and privileged access to our pharma partners, gives our ventures a head start to further build and grow their businesses." Since its inception in 2018, BaseLaunch has supported 27 biotech companies across various modalities and indications, with several of them having entered Phase II clinical trials. The incubator also boasts two exits, most notably T3 Pharma, which was acquired for $500 million (USD) by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2023. "Our partnership with BaseLaunch strengthens our connection to European biotech innovation," said Alison Handley, Head of the Center for External Innovation at Takeda. "Further, by joining the investment board, we can help guide company creation and apply Takeda's expertise in turning science into new therapies. We look forward to participating in BaseLaunch and advancing innovative medicines together." Six of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies are currently partners of BaseLaunch. In addition to Takeda, these include AbbVie, Roche, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson and CSL. The venture fund Pureos Bioventures is also a partner. The commitment of these prominent partners demonstrates the continued success of the BaseLaunch setup that also deeply embeds the portfolio companies in the Basel area, a hotspot of European biopharma innovation. About BaseLaunch BaseLaunch is a Basel-based incubator that partners with scientists and entrepreneurs to help launch and grow exceptional biotech ventures developing cutting-edge therapeutics. The platform helps build companies from inception through to Series A funding, providing financing and supporting all aspects of company creation and growth. It is operationally run and financed by Basel Area Business & Innovation, the non-profit agency that focuses on promoting the Basel Area Life Sciences Supercluster as Europe's most concentrated destination for biotech, pharma, health tech, and MedTech innovation. Interested groups can find more information at . Media contact: Amy Roberts [email protected] SOURCE BaseLaunch 21% more press release views with Request a Demo

Johnson & Johnson’s Tecvayli and Darzalex combination treatment scored another win in second-line multiple myeloma, with the FDA moving with unprecedented speed after the latest data to issue a new voucher that expedites the combo’s review to one to two months. “Vigilant FDA leaders just saw an impressive multiple myeloma trial result” published ahead of last week’s American Society of Hematology conference in Orlando, FL, Commissioner Marty Makary wrote on X on Monday. Agency experts conferred and “contacted the company THE NEXT DAY to issue them a national priority voucher.” Hand-picking a treatment for an accelerated review so quickly after the release of Phase 3 trial results is rare for an agency that typically avoids commenting on data under review. The company said the combo treatment’s supplemental drug application is already included in the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review program, where it will see its review expedited too. J&J’s data, first unveiled in mid-October, were the first Phase 3 readout for the combination as well as for Tecvayli, which targets both BCMA on myeloma cells and CD3 on T cells. The overall survival result is particularly surprising, as the combination showed significant improvement compared to currently available regimens at the first interim analysis. The data were published Dec. 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine . The Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher awarded to J&J on Monday is the 16th the FDA has issued so far under the pilot program that looks to shave up to 10 months off of a drug review. The other awarded vouchers address a range of Makary’s priorities, including jumpstarting certain key API production in the US and finding new treatments for difficult-to-treat conditions like pancreatic cancer. Also receiving vouchers were Regeneron’s new gene therapy for an inherited type of deafness in children, Eli Lilly’s oral GLP-1 orforglipron, and Boehringer Ingelheim’s zongertinib for HER-2 lung cancer.

Eligible health centers purchased $81.4 billion in discounted drugs under the federal 340B program in 2024, an increase of 23% from the previous year as the program continues to expand — and face legal challenges. The data released on Thursday capture “the vast majority but not all 340B transactions,” according to the US Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the 340B program. The 340B program requires drug companies to provide discounted prices to health centers that qualify, such as those serving low-income or rural communities. Hospitals describe it as a vital financial lifeline, while the pharma industry argues that it is rife with fraud and abuse. Their fight has intensified in recent weeks as the government prepares to implement a controversial pilot on Jan. 1 that would change how the program has operated for decades. The pilot program would require health centers to buy certain 340B-eligible drugs at market price and recoup discounts via rebates, as opposed to getting the lower prices upfront. The American Hospital Association challenged the pilot in a lawsuit filed earlier this month in Maine, arguing that if it takes effect, it would “drain 340B hospitals of huge sums of money” while they wait for the refunds. On Wednesday, a handful of drugmakers and the industry trade group PhRMA asked to intervene in the case. The trade group said that a win for plaintiffs would “severely and adversely” affect its members’ interests, primarily those who are set to participate in the pilot. For now, HHS’ pilot is limited to drugs subject to the first round of Medicare negotiations, a group that includes blockbusters like Bristol Myers Squibb’s blood thinner Eliquis, Johnson & Johnson’s psoriasis drug Stelara, and others. Drugmakers have argued that a rebate program is necessary to avoid giving duplicate discounts on drugs negotiated under the IRA. PhRMA also argued that the pilot program would help “gather real-world information in a manner that will allow it to properly assess whether to expand the use of rebate models in the future.” AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and Novo Nordisk also filed motions to intervene in the case. Drugmakers are also battling HHS in court in an effort to implement their own proposed 340B rebate models that they say would address abuse of the system.