RondinX, a start-up company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, has launched a tool that it says will enable researchers to analyse the human microbiome from single metagenomic samples. This is expected to give a boost to drug development.
Versant Ventures has raised $400 million for its sixth healthcare fund – enough capital to help finance up to 25 biotechnology companies across the US, Canada and Europe. The new fund, Versant Venture Capital VI, is expected to make its first investment before the end of March.
Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA, a family-controlled pharmaceutical company based in Parma, Italy, has teamed up with Aptuit LLC, a US contract research organisation, to discover new compounds for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a serious, chronic lung disease.
Microbiotica Ltd, a spin-out of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, has raised £8 million in start-up capital to research new medicines derived from the microbiome, the collection of bacteria in the human gut that helps regulate human health and disease.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given its first approval to a drug for spinal muscular atrophy, a hereditary disease that causes weakness and muscle wasting. The drug, Spinraza (nusinersen), is an antisense oligonucleotide that binds to RNA in order to regulate gene expression.
Merus NV of the Netherlands has secured a licensing deal with Incyte Corp around its bispecific antibody technology that will give it both cash to develop its portfolio, and US marketing rights to a future compound should development of the technology be successful.
In a reversal, Actelion and Johnson & Johnson Inc have entered into exclusive negotiations about a possible strategic transactions, the details of which are undisclosed. The two companies broke off discussions on 14 December, with Actelion reportedly sounding out a deal with Sanofi SA.
A new JAK inhibitor for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been recommended for approval by the European Medicines Agency. If authorised by the European Commission, it would be the first RA drug to be launched in Europe with this mechanism of action.
France-based Valneva SE, which has a portfolio of commercial and development-stage vaccines, has raised €7.5 million through the private placement of its shares with MVM Life Science Partners LLP, a life science investor based in London, UK and Boston, US.
The cell-therapy company TiGenix NV has raised gross proceeds of $35.65 million in an initial public offering of its shares on the Nasdaq exchange in the US in order to support the clinical development of its allogeneic product portfolio.