Olaparib, a drug with an unusual clinical history, has been given a positive scientific review by the European Medicines Agency paving the way for its use as a treatment for women with a subtype of ovarian cancer.
Novartis International AG has reached agreement to sell its influenza vaccines business to CSL Ltd of Australia for US $275 million, subject to regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2015.
Shire Plc has raised its guidance for 2014 following a strong third-quarter and nine-month financial performance. The results don’t include a $1.6 billion break fee due it from AbbVie Inc which walked away from a proposed takeover earlier this month.
Erytech Pharma SA, which publically offered its shares for the first time in April 2013, has returned to the Paris Euronext exchange for €30 million in an offering that was 68% subscribed by US institutions.
Probiodrug AG, a German specialist in Alzheimer’s disease, has raised €22.5 million with an initial public offering of its shares on the Amsterdam Euronext exchange. The offering of 1,524,205 shares was priced at €15.25 per share. Kempen & Co acted as the bookrunner.
Bavarian Nordic A/S, which for years has supplied the US government with smallpox vaccine for its emergency stockpile, has secured a major new deal with Johnson & Johnson Inc to develop a vaccine against the Ebola and Marburg viruses and explore additional disease targets.
DBV Technologies SA, which is developing a patch for peanut allergies, has raised about €104.5 million in an international share offering most of which was in American depositary shares on Nasdaq in the US.
Forendo Pharma OY of Finland has secured €12 million from a syndicate of investors including Novartis Venture Fund and MS Ventures to bring a candidate drug for endometriosis into the clinic. The drug inhibits the enzyme 17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1.
Switzerland’s Actelion Ltd, which has a portfolio of treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), reported significantly higher sales and earnings for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2014.
Bluebird bio Inc has treated the first patient in a Phase 1/2 trial designed to establish the safety and efficacy of a gene therapy procedure in patients with sickle cell disease. This is reportedly the first ever gene therapy study in patients with this disorder.