Abivax Turns Away Suitors as Lead Drug Starts Covid-19 Tests (1)

Abivax SA, the French biotech embarking on tests of its lead experimental medicine for Covid-19, has turned away several suitors in recent months, according to its chairman.

The company is in the process of recruiting more than 1,000 patients to test whether a drug it’s developing for inflammatory bowel diseases can also stifle a powerful overreaction of the immune system known as a cytokine storm that comes with the most severe coronavirus cases.

The focus for the company is to advance studies on the bowel ailment, called ulcerative colitis, as well as Covid, Chairman Philippe Pouletty said when asked ...