Pridopidine, sebetralstat and mirdametinib, which are novel treatments that are yet to approved anywhere in the world, are among the latest products for which marketing applications are now under review by the European Medicines Agency.

After 10 years of promised investment following its Nobel Prize for iPS cell research, Japan is cautiously narrowing regulations around the conditional approval of cell therapies and cutting some reimbursement prices. Commercial success remains mixed and some products have been withdrawn from the market.

In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: J&J interested in differentiated obesity assets; Kerendia hits in heart failure; strong HERCULES data keep Sanofi’s MS plans alive; WCLC preview; and Mankind sets eyes on 5x growth.

ArsenalBio closed one of the largest VC rounds so far in 2024, raising $325m in series C funding, while Vaxcyte grossed $1.3bn in a follow-on offering. Also, Circle Pharma closed a $90m series D round and Jazz priced an $850m note sale, but IN8bio revealed a prioritization plan and job cuts.