UCB Acquires Maker of Antibody Treatments for Autoimmune Diseases
UCB announced on May 4, 2026 that it will acquire Candid Therapeutics for $2.2 billion. Candid Therapeutics is a privately held startup developing bispecific antibody treatments for autoimmune diseases by depleting B cells to reset the immune system. Ken Song founded Candid in 2024 after selling RayzeBio to Bristol Myers Squibb. The company was planning to go public via reverse merger before UCB's unsolicited bid.
Immigration visa delays
▪U.S. labs are losing talent and seeing fewer applicants due to visa uncertainty for trainees.
▪Stricter immigration policies, visa delays, and bureaucratic friction are pushing international researchers away from the United States.
▪Medical residency match rates for visa-dependent applicants in the United States are slipping.
▪Some physicians in the United States are stuck in limbo, unable to work due to immigration issues.
Latus Bio Huntington's therapy
▪Latus Bio's Huntington's therapy aims to indirectly reduce toxic repeat expansions that drive the disease.
▪Latus Bio is developing a gene therapy for Huntington's disease that targets the MSH3 gene instead of the HTT gene.
▪Latus Bio is injecting its Huntington's therapy into a part of the brain that degenerates later in the disease progression.
▪Latus Bio raised $42 million to push two gene therapies into clinical trials.
UCB Candid Therapeutics acquisition
▪Candid Therapeutics is a privately held startup developing bispecific antibody treatments for autoimmune diseases.
▪Candid Therapeutics' lead drug is a bispecific antibody that steers a patient's T cells to the BCMA receptor on B cells.
▪Candid Therapeutics built its portfolio of bispecific drugs via licensing deals with Chinese biotechs.
▪UCB announced on May 4, 2026 that it will acquire Candid Therapeutics for $2.2 billion.
▪Candid Therapeutics' lead drug is still in early clinical trials.
▪Ken Song founded Candid Therapeutics in 2024 after selling RayzeBio to Bristol Myers Squibb.
▪UCB acquired an experimental therapy from a Hong Kong-based startup in March 2025.
▪Candid Therapeutics was planning to go public via a reverse merger before UCB made its unsolicited acquisition bid.
▪Candid Therapeutics is developing experimental medicines that aim to treat autoimmune diseases by depleting a patient's B cells and resetting the body's immune system.
China pharmaceutical supply chain control
▪China's Decree 834 gives Beijing authority to investigate and punish foreign pharmaceutical companies whose decisions are seen as undermining China's industrial security.
▪China's Decree 834 targets foreign pharmaceutical companies that shift supply chains out of China to comply with U.S. policy.
▪China now runs more clinical trials each year than the United States.
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