Finance, Grants, Deals

Celgene Corp, which only a year ago entered a 10-year collaboration with Juno Therapeutics, has now invested in Jounce Therapeutics Inc which has different technology for stimulating the immune system to fight cancer.

Juno Therapeutics Inc has acquired a Boston, Massachusetts, US biotech company with technology that can potentially disrupt immunosuppressive pathways in the tumour microenvironment of certain cancers. This fits in with its technology for engineering T cells to fight cancer.

An international research consortium that is working on a promising antibody for the treatment of influenza has had its work published in the 14 July edition of the journal Cell. The research suggests that the antibody has the potential for treating influenza caused by numerous type A strains.

Nextech Invest AG, a Zurich, Switzerland-based, oncology fund manager, has closed its fourth fund, Nextech Oncology Fund IV, with an investment of $64 million. The funds were supplied by limited partners based in the US, Europe and Asia.

UK-based Storm Therapeutics Ltd, which is developing small molecules that target RNA-modifying enzymes in cancer, has raised £12 million in Series A equity financing. Two heavy-weight corporate venture capitalists participated in the financing, suggesting interest in the technology.

London, UK-based Tiziana Life Sciences Plc has expanded into genomic medicine with the purchase of a large biobank from Shardna SpA of Italy that has information on 13,000 genealogically linked residents of the Ogliastra region of Sardinia.

Bayer AG, whose name is usually associated with aspirin, has signaled its intention to deepen its commitment to crop science by raising its takeover bid for Monsanto Inc to $125 per share. The move values the company at $64 billion.

Cell Medica Ltd has completed another stage of its strategy for developing immunotherapies for solid tumours with the acquisition of Delenex Therapeutics AG, an antibody specialist based in Switzer

GW Pharmaceuticals Plc has raised gross proceeds of $252 million on the US Nasdaq market with the issue of 2.8 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) to investors at a price of $90 per ADS.

The US biotech, Medivation Inc, has been successful at buying in new medicines for further development, but will selling itself be its most successful deal?