Today, a brief rundown of news from Takeda and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as updates from Insmed, J.P. Morgan and Bristol Myers Squibb that you may have missed from earlier this week.

Takeda Pharmaceutical has paid $100 million for an exclusive option to license a blood cancer medicine from China-based Ascentage Pharma. Known as olverembatinib, the medicine is already approved and marketed in China for certain adult patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. It blocks members of the “tyrosine kinase” enzyme family that are integral to the onset and development of CML. — Jacob Bell

The Food and Drug Administration has advised vaccine manufacturers to target, if possible, the KP.2 coronavirus strain in updating their COVID-19 shots this year. The recommendation follows an advisory committee meeting earlier this month, during which experts favored an update that broadly covers the JN.1 virus lineage, which includes KP.2. While the FDA initially communicated that preference to companies, it is now pushing KP.2 specifically based on current data. The agency doesn’t anticipate this change hampering vaccine availability, although Novavax has less flexibility to quickly adapt its product than Moderna and Pfizer. — Delilah Alvarado

The venture arm of J.P. Morgan Asset Management has raised more than half a billion dollars to invest in private biotechnology companies. The fund — J.P. Morgan’s “first life sciences private capital offering” — closed above its $500 million target and saw contributions from institutional allocators, strategic corporate partners, family offices and “high net worth individuals.” According to a statement, the fund’s early company formation activities and portfolio investments cover a variety of research areas, from cardiometabolic disease and cancer to immunology and genetic medicines. — Jacob Bell

AstraZeneca has not moved forward with a deal to license Insmed‘s drug brensocatib for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, Insmed disclosed Thursday. The British pharmaceutical company had exercised an option to begin discussions, but the negotiation period without an agreement. Insmed is also developing brensocatib for non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis and recently read out positive trial results that could position it for a U.S. approval in that indication. — Ned Pagliarulo

On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration granted a new accelerated approval to a cancer medication that Bristol Myers Squibb acquired through a $4.1 billion acquisition of Turning Point Therapeutics in 2022. The medication, branded as Augtyro, is now conditionally cleared as a treatment for adult and pediatric patients who have locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors that have so-called NTRK gene fusions. Like dozens of approved cancer therapies, Augtyro works by inhibiting tyrosine kinases. — Jacob Bell