A group of investors led by the venture capital group, Inventages, has raised €7 million in a Series B funding round for Phagenesis Ltd, the developer of a medical device for dysphagia, a condition that affects a patient’s ability to swallow.
A team of European researchers has reported on a new epigenetic approach for the treatment of mixed lineage leukaemia (MLL), an aggressive form of cancer which is thought to account for up to eight out of 10 cases of the disease in children.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd has completed its €9.6 billion acquisition of privately-owned Nycomed A/S of Switzerland giving it cash flow from Nycomed’s €2.8 billion in annual sales as well as a recently launched product for COPD.
Sanofi SA expects to deliver sales growth of at least 5% per year on average from 2012 to 2015 while preparing regulatory files for an estimated 19 new products. Recently-acquired Genzyme will broaden its pipeline with drugs for rare diseases and MS.
Silence Therapeutics Plc has entered a second collaboration in under a month, this time with an unidentified pharmaceutical company to exploit Silence’s RNAi delivery technology. The follows an earlier agreement with a Dutch company in therapeutics.
H. Lundbeck A/S has decided to invest £10.3 million in Proximagen Group Plc of the UK in the second alignment of companies involved in the CNS research space this week. The first was Biotie Therapies Corp’s announcement on 27 September of plans to acquire Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA.
Merck & Co has decided to sell to Johnson & Johnson its 50% interest in a consumer products’ joint venture between the two companies in order to focus its resources on building a similar business acquired in the takeover of Schering-Plough in 2009.
A Paris-based life science company, Nanobiotix SA, has received clearance to start a Phase 1 safety study of a new nanoproduct in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma. The product has been classified as a device in Europe, but as a drug in the US.
Hypha Discovery Ltd of the UK has entered into a discovery collaboration with Ferrer Grupo of Spain to identify new low-molecular weight natural products that could be used to treat microbial infections. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The pace of consolidation within the European biotech sector quickened on 27 September as Biotie Therapies Corp of Finland announced plans to acquire Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA of Italy for €45 million, creating a group with two late-stage assets in neurology.