Weekly Roundup: Scoring big in biopharma
The World Cup kicked off this week and so did our clients, with new appointments, important clinical trial updates and major collaborations announced!
The Optimum team was proud to support and attend Weatherden’s Symposium on Women’s Health yesterday, which featured a stellar line-up of speakers to explore how smarter clinical development and regulatory strategy can unlock the next wave of innovation in women’s health.
Sofinnova Partners launched collaboration with AWS to scale AI across life sciences innovation
Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London, and Milan, announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), to embed AI more deeply across its investment platform and portfolio companies.
CONNECTA Therapeutics Initiated a Phase IIa clinical trial of CTH120, a first-in-class neuroplasticity modulator, in fragile X syndrome
CONNECTA Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company pioneering first-in-class neuroplasticity modulators to address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced the initiation of its Phase IIa clinical trial evaluating its lead first-in-class program, CTH120, in adult males with fragile X syndrome (FXS).
Hansa Biopharma appointed Fredrik Röök as VP Business Development and announced details of its upcoming Capital Markets Day
Hansa Biopharma AB, announced on Wednesday its appointment of Fredrik Röök as VP Business Development. Fredrik brings more than 20 years of experience in business development, licensing, and strategic transactions across the global life science industry. He joins from AstraZeneca, where he served as Senior Director, Global Business Development, and will play a key role in the next phase of Hansa’s growth.
Hansa also announced details of its upcoming Capital Markets Day 2026 on June 25, 2026 in New York. The program will include a review of the results from the pivotal U.S. Phase 3 ConfIdeS study presented at ATC on June 22, 2026, as well as findings from the European Post‑Authorisation Efficacy Study (PAES) with Idefirix/imlifidase in Europe. You can register your interest to attend here.
Poolbeg Pharma announces successful site activation for POLB 001 TOPICAL clinical trial and has two posters at the European Hematology Association Congress
Poolbeg Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a core focus on transforming the cancer immunotherapy field, announces the first site activation for the first-in-patient POLB 001 TOPICAL* clinical trial. Interim data is expected in summer 2026.
Poolbeg also announced that two posters with new research, by Poolbeg and The University of Manchester respectively, are being presented at the European Hematology Association Congress in Stockholm, which runs from Thursday 11 June until Sunday 14 June 2026.
Oriva Therapeutics appoints Dr Agnès Arbat as CEO to advance clinical-stage women’s health pipeline
Oriva Therapeutics, a women’s health company developing first-in-class and best-in-class approaches to treat chronic, prevalent conditions affecting women, announced the appointment of seasoned biotech entrepreneur Dr Agnès Arbat as Chief Executive Officer.
Oriva was founded earlier this year with backing from Asabys Partners, and is advancing a clinical-stage pipeline focused on chronic gynaecological diseases.
Scenic Biotech joined the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s LITE Program to explore a new disease-modifying approach for Parkinson’s Disease
Scenic Biotech, a neurometabolic company whose function‑first genomics engine has identified a first-in-class therapy to restore lysosomal function, a core driver of neurodegeneration, announced this week that it has joined The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) LRRK2 Investigative Therapeutics Exchange (LITE) program. Through this collaboration, Scenic will investigate the therapeutic potential of its PLA2G15 inhibitor program in Parkinson’s disease (PD), including patients carrying LRRK2 mutations.
📺Optimum TV
AmacaThera: Making injectable drugs that last longer
Watch AmacaThera’s CEO, Mike Cooke, explain the Company’s technology and why it is attracting interest from leading global pharmaceutical companies, who recognise its potential not only in pain management but across a range of therapeutic areas.
Canadian firm AmacaThera struck an exclusive global licensing deal with Pacira BioSciences for up to US$230M at the end of last year, covering the development and commercialisation of AMT-143, an investigational long-acting non-opioid anaesthetic for post-operative pain. The agreement marked a major validation of AmacaThera’s tuneable hydrogel drug-delivery platform and its transformative potential across multiple therapeutic areas.
See the full episode here – it will only take four minutes of your time!
numares Health: Revolutionising fatty liver diagnosis with NMR-based metabolomics
On Global Fatty Liver Day, Andreas Wolf, CTO of numares Health, joined Optimum TV to discuss how AXINON®, their NMR-based metabolomics detection system, can help close the diagnostic gap in liver disease.
The episode explores the technology’s ability to identify early-stage liver issues from a single blood sample, addressing critical diagnostic gaps with the potential to replace invasive biopsies.
👥Industry events
On Helix – Cambridge | 9th Jul 2026
This July, One Nucleus presents ON Helix – Disrupting Bio Innovation.
A one-day conference in Cambridge spotlighting and discussing the breakthrough technologies, policies and business models that are shaping the drug discovery and development landscape. This is an excellent opportunity to connect with the pioneers leading this next wave of disruptive innovation and ensure you stay ahead in a rapidly evolving space.
Optimum is a proud supporter of One Nucleus events and is happy to share an exclusive 10% F&F discount. Please get in touch if you would like to use this or connect with the team there!
Optimum’s 18th Annual Healthcare Investor Conference – London | 8th Oct 2026
Save the date – Thursday the 8th of October 2026!
The date is set for Optimum’s 18th Annual Healthcare Investor Conference, which returns to the King’s Fund, London this October.
Join us for a day of invaluable insights from the thought leaders of the life sciences industry! The conference is free but invitation only, so please register your interest to attend here: https://www.optimumcomms.com/irconference2026/
Follow us on LinkedIn to hear updates on speakers and panellists, as they are announced.
Plan ahead for Europe’s busiest week in healthcare 🌍
Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference & Life Sciences Week – London | 15–20th Nov 2026
Join the mailing list to receive the official networking event guide, produced by Catalyst Advisors and Optimum Strategic Communications in partnership with Jefferies.
That’s all folks! To stay in the know – subscribe to Optimum’s weekly wrap-up today!
