Company News

Swiss Galenica to buy US company for $1.53 billion

Country
Switzerland

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 raises $5 million for ALS study

Country
United States

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 bids $14 billion for Medivation

Country
United States

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.

Video consultation service gets funding

Country
Sweden

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.

Cambridge Innovation raises £75 million

Country
United Kingdom

Cambridge Innovation Capital Plc (CIC), which finances projects arising from the University of Cambridge as well as from area biotechs, has raised £75 million in new equity capital from existing and new institutional investors including Woodford Investment Management.

European support for US start-up

Country
United States

The corporate venture arms of three European pharmaceutical groups are principal investors in a US start-up company called Tioma Therapeutics Inc that is developing antibodies targeting CD47, a protein that is overexpressed on different tumour cells.

Passing of the baton at Symphogen

Country
Denmark

Denmark-based Symphogen A/S, which is developing recombinant antibody mixtures for cancer, has promoted Martin Olin, the company’s chief financial officer, to the position of chief executive officer and member of the board of directors.

Basilea prepares for US antibiotic trials

Country
Switzerland

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd is continuing plans to bring its antibiotic ceftobiprole to the US market, while tightening control over its early-stage portfolio. In a report on the first-half year on 15 August, it disclosed plans to drop a preclinical, inhaled antibiotic candidate after a data review.

Paion sees light at the end of the tunnel

Country
Germany

After years of investing in a product for stroke that failed, and then relaunching its portfolio around anaesthesia, Paion AG now has its sights firmly set on the commercialisation of its lead product, remimazolam, in the US.

Pharming regains rights to Ruconest

Country
Netherlands

Pharming Group NV has reached an agreement to take back North American commercialisation rights for its recombinant therapy for hereditary angioedema (HAE), Ruconest, from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc giving it a chance to build a dedicated US sales force.