Evolva SA, a Swiss biotech company with a genetic chemistry platform, is raising CHF 28 million in the first closing of a Series B financing that will support its planned takeover of Arpida Ltd, another Swiss biotech company.
Evotec AG has received a €2.5 million milestone payment from Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) for the identification of a candidate compound in a joint research programme on cardiometabolic risk. This is BI’s seventh milestone payment to Evotec.
Pfizer Inc has raised its revenue forecast for 2009 following the completion of its acquisition of Wyeth. Revenue for the year is now expected to be $49 to $50 billion compared with an earlier forecast of $45 to $46 billion, the company said.
Elan Corporation Plc said that its recent strategic alliance with Johnson & Johnson, under which it divested assets under development for Alzheimer’s disease, helped drive the company into profit for the 2009 third quarter after a loss a year earlier.
MorphoSys AG said that it has reached an agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Company Ltd of Japan to discover and develop therapeutic antibodies to treat hospital-acquired infections. The financial terms were not disclosed.
Following strong nine-month sales of the influenza treatment, Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and the cancer drug, Avastin (bevacizumab), the Roche Group has raised its guidance for sales growth in 2009 and confirmed its estimates for profit growth.
A Switzerland-based diagnostics company, Biocartis SA, has raised €10 million in a Series A financing round led by Aescap Venture of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The company has technology for eventual use in in vitro diagnostic settings.
Merck & Co Inc has expanded its research alliance with Galapagos NV of Belgium to include the discovery of potential small molecule drugs in atherosclerosis. This raises the potential milestones from the alliance to €400 million, Galapagos said.
Prosensa BV of Leiden has granted GlaxoSmithKline an exclusive licence for its gene-correcting treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, PRO051, and has entered into an alliance that could make three other of Prosensa’s DMD products available to GSK.
Heptares Therapeutics Ltd has entered into an option agreement with the Novartis Option Fund under which the UK company will make its technology available to Novartis to generate drug leads against an unspecified GPCR target.