Finance, Grants, Deals

ViGeneron GmbH, a spin-out of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany, has closed a Series A funding round enabling it to advance two viral vector-based gene therapy platforms and develop two programmes for ophthalmic indications. The size of the funding was not disclosed. It was led by WuXi AppTec Group and Sequoia Capital of China.

Novartis has moved aggressively to expand its cardiovascular portfolio with an agreed bid for The Medicines Company, valued at $9.7 billion. The US company’s lead product, inclisiran, is a small interfering RNA drug for the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and familial hypercholesterolemia. The Medicines Company expects to make regulatory submissions in the US before the end of 2019 and in Europe in the first quarter of 2020.

London-based GHO Capital Partners LLP has closed its second healthcare fund, raising €975 million for investments across Europe – said to be the largest specialist private equity fund dedicated to European healthcare. The fund was oversubscribed, exceeding its target of €800 million, the company announced on 20 November.

The Roche group has staked out fibrotic disease as a growth area with the planned acquisition of Promedior Inc of Lexington, Massachusetts, US for up to $1.39 billion. Promedior has a product for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) poised to enter Phase 3 which has shown an ability to slow the decline of lung function in a randomised Phase 2 study of patients with the disease. The drug, PRM-151, is a recombinant form of the human pentraxin-2 protein, reportedly with a potential to treat a wide range of systemic fibrotic diseases.

Germany-based Affimed NV has closed its previously announced offering of shares on the US Nasdaq market following the full exercise by underwriters of their option to purchase additional stock. A total of 13.8 million shares were sold at $2.50 per share raising $34.5 million. The closing was announced on 13 November.

Germany-based Affimed NV has priced its previously announced US offering of 12 million shares at $2.50 per common share. After deducting underwriting discounts, the net proceeds are expected to be about $28.2 million. The offering is expected to close on or about 13 November.

A new UK-based company has been launched to explore the dark matter of the genome with the goal of identifying antigens for the development of off-the-shelf cancer vaccines and T cell receptor based immunotherapies. Ervaxx Ltd was founded on original research by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London and launched on 6 November with $17.5 million in seed and Series A funding from SV Health Investors and an undisclosed global pharmaceutical company.

Denmark’s Zealand Pharma A/S has expanded its capacity for developing peptide-based medicines with the acquisition of Encycle Therapeutics Inc, a private Canadian company with a preclinical asset for gastrointestinal diseases.

Novartis has teamed up with a UK fund manager and the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow to develop RAS inhibitors for difficult-to-treat cancers. RAS is a family of genes that make proteins involved in cell signalling pathways that control cell growth and death. It is estimated that more than 30% of all human cancers, including 95% of pancreatic cancers and 45% of colorectal cancers are driven by mutations of the RAS gene family.

Vivoryon Therapeutics AG has raised €43 million from a rights offering and private placement to finance an upcoming Phase 2b study of its lead product for Alzheimer’s disease, PQ912. The product is a small molecule drug that targets an enzyme, glutaminyl cyclase, thought to be responsible for the formation of toxic oligomers in Alzheimer’s disease. The drug has shown promising efficacy signals in an earlier Phase 2a trial – signals that the company hopes to confirm in a larger patient population.