Cell Medica Ltd has strengthened its hand in the field of T cell therapy with a new collaboration around T cell receptor technology. Having recently expanded a partnership with Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, US, and acquired the Delenex Therapeutics AG antibody company in Switzerland, the company has now entered into a partnership with University College London (UCL) to develop genetically engineered T cell receptor products for cancer.
A review of patients who had experienced a stroke and were treated with an experimental stem cell therapy has shown the therapy to be safe and linked to improved neurological function. Data from a two-year follow-up of the patients were published in The Lancet on 20 August.
Ablynx NV has reported a 39% increase in revenue to €53.5 million for the first half year and a narrowing of its operating loss to €2 million from €7.4 million. The main events of the period were favourable clinical trial results from two products that use the company’s technology platform, which is derived from the llama.
AstraZeneca Plc is divesting a portfolio of small molecule antibiotics in line with its strategy of generating out-licensing revenue and tightening its therapeutic focus. In a deal announced on 24 August, the UK company said it will sell rights to the portfolio to Pfizer Inc which has a focus on infectious disease.
H. Lundbeck A/S, the Danish specialist in brain diseases, reported a 5% increase in first half year revenue to DKK 7.5 billion (€1.01 billion), powered by a 33% increase of sales in the US. The company also secured an operating profit, after a large loss the previous year from a write-off.
The London-based private equity firm Cinven Ltd is acquiring the US medical services company Bioclinica Inc for a reported $1.4 billion as an investment for its sixth capital management fund.
In preparation for splitting into two new listed business, Switzerland-based Galenica AG has decided to make a $1.53 billion US acquisition that will help one of the prospective companies, Vifor Pharma, get off to a strong start.
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc has raised $5 million with a Series A equity placement that will top up its financing for a Phase 2 study of AMX0035, an experimental treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Pfizer Inc has made an agreed cash offer to buy Medivation Inc for about $14 billion or an eye-popping 5.8 times the average revenue that Medivation has forecast for 2016. Long gone are the days when one times revenue was considered a reasonable purchase price for an industrial company.
A Swedish start-up company that links patients with doctors via the internet has raised €6.1 million in seed funding from a syndicate led by Index Ventures and Stockholm-based Creandum AB. Berlin-based Project A Ventures GmbH also participated in the round.