Company News

A 22-year-old joint venture vaccine company has been terminated by the partners Sanofi SA and Merck & Co Inc following a review of the parent companies’ strategic priorities.

Argenx NV, which engineers antibodies originating in llamas, almost doubled its operating income in 2015 from a combination of research funding, milestone payments and government grants. Cash on 31 December was €42.3 million which will continue to underpin product development.

Following a successful initial public offering of its shares on the AIM market in London, Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd has started patient recruitment for a pan-European Phase 3 trial of its lead product for acute respiratory distress syndrome Traumakine.

Galapagos NV reported a decline in revenue and a widening of its operating loss in 2015. But the company significantly increased its cash reserves following an initial public offering of its shares on the US Nasdaq market and a follow-up share offering during the year.

Baxalta Inc has entered the gene editing field with an agreement to work with Precision BioSciences on cancer therapies using engineered immune cells. The collaboration was announced a little more than a month after Baxalta agreed to be acquired by Shire Plc in a deal valued at $32 billion.

Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck KGaA is to work with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg to discover new cancer drugs based on the science of metabolomics.

Nicox SA maintained its sales momentum through the final quarter of 2015 with the result that revenue for the year as a whole was €9.9 million, up by 65% from a year earlier. The developer of eye-care products had cash balances at the end of the year of €30 million.

Aprea AB has raised €46 million in a Series B equity financing co-led by Versant Ventures and 5AM Ventures. The privately-held Swedish company is developing a small molecule drug that reactivates a tumour suppressor protein known as p53.

Scancell Holdings Plc is planning to raise £6.8 million in a two-part equity offering to finance further development of its anti-cancer vaccines. The UK company, which is listed on the  AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, has made arrangements to place £3 million of its shares with institutions.

Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA achieved revenue of €2.4 million in 2015, an increase of 53% from a year earlier as the result of the approval and successful launch in Europe of its lead product for Parkinson’s disease Xadago (safinamide).