Netherlands-based Qiagen NV, a producer of medical devices and diagnostics, is making an agreed bid for its smaller rival Exiqon A/S of Denmark for approximately €12 million in a further sign of consolidation in the global diagnostics industry.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for hepatic veno-occlusive disease, a rare and life-threatening liver condition that can be a complication of high-dose chemotherapy given before a bone marrow transplant.
A 2015 oncology start-up from the Netherlands has obtained €7 million in Series A financing for a technology that targets the metabolic changes in tumour cells as a way of destroying them. Gadeta BV is based on research from the University Medical Center Utrecht.
Atlantic Healthcare Plc, a UK firm specialising in gastrointestinal disorders, has raised $24 million in a private equity placement to finance the Phase 3 development of an experimental drug called alicaforsen for treating inflammatory bowel disease pouchitis.
The convergence of life science and information technology has received further validation with the launch of a new €250 million fund called Endeavour Medtech Growth LP to support medical device and digital health companies in Europe and the US.
The US Food and Drug Administration has asked Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA to provide more information on the potential for abuse of its candidate drug for Parkinson’s disease safinamide. The FDA is withholding approval pending further information.
The US Food and Drug Administration has turned down a proposed new indication for the anti-depressant Brintellix (vortioxetine) saying that more clinical data is required. Discovered by H. Lundbeck A/S, the drug was being assessed for cognitive dysfunction.
France-based Gecko Biomedical SAS has obtained €22.5 million in equity financing from Sofinnova Partners, Bpifrance and others in order to advance its medical device for tissue reconstruction, which is based on proprietary biopolymers.
Onxeo SA, which was formed from the 2014 merger of BioAlliance Pharma SA of France and Topotarget A/S of Denmark, has completed the acquisition of DNA Therapeutics SA of France in a move that will strengthen its expertise in rare cancers.
The failure of the anti-platelet agent Brilinta (ticagrelor) to perform better than aspirin in a late-stage stroke trial has dashed expectations, at least for the time being, of expanding the approved indications for the drug.