Weekly roundup: Sunny outlook at spring innovation week
Laigo Bio completed final close of oversubscribed €17 million seed financing
Laigo Bio, a biotech company pioneering novel and highly differentiated therapies using its proprietary SureTACs™ precision membrane protein degradation platform, announced the successful completion of the second close of its seed financing round, securing an additional €5.5m, bringing the total raised to €17m. This latest investment comes from new co-lead investor Biovance Capital and existing co-lead investor Kurma Partners.
Hansa Biopharma published 2025 Annual and Sustainability Reports
Hansa Biopharma published its Annual and Sustainability Reports for 2025.
2025 highlights include:
- Pivotal U.S. Phase 3 success
- BLA submission to the FDA
- European commercial momentum
- Strengthening financial position
- Pipeline advancement: HNSA-5487
- Strengthened leadership to support next phase of growth
📺Optimum TV
High phosphate levels are a very common problem among people with kidney failure – even more so when it gets to the stage that they need dialysis. Left uncontrolled, it contributes to serious bone and cardiovascular complications, with significant risk of morbidity and mortality. Yet currently available medicines that are used to take excess phosphate out of the system have many drawbacks, and haven’t fundamentally changed in 60 years, says Krishna Polu of R1 Therapeutics.
The company has just launched with $77.5 million in funding to address this problem, with its lead asset AP306 for hyperphosphatemia. The clinical-stage drug was licensed from Alebund Pharmaceuticals, which is now co-developing it with R1.
Watch the full episode here.
🔥Hot topic
The outbreak of war in the Middle East – and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz – has unsurprisingly dominated the news agenda for the last month. But biotech markets have proved pretty resilient, with the XBI down just 4% since hostilities began (at time of writing). Reaction in the trade media has been subdued too. Is the sector nervous of even mentioning an awkward subject? Or is it just more robust than we give it credit for?
Learn more in this week’s hot topic here.
Prefer to listen to the highlights? Watch Stephen Adams explain the top takeaways instead.
👥Industry events
Spring Innovation Week 2026
It was a jam-packed week as the Optimum team touched down in Lisbon for Spring Innovation Week including BIO-Europe Spring and LSX World Congress Europe.At LSX, Optimum’s CEO Mary Clark, took to the stage for the morning keynote address: ‘Investment, Innovation, and Influence: Reimagining Europe’s Role in Global Life Sciences’.
What a fantastic week of collaboration and focus on fundraising, capital access, and scaling strategies!
Anglonordic Life Sciences Conference XXII
With over 100+ active life science investors already registered, join us on the 23rd of April in London for the unique opportunity to connect with decision makers in an intimate setting, and at a fraction of the cost of larger conferences.
Register today at anglonordiclifescience.com/page/registration
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