Finance, Grants, Deals

The Helsinn Group has joined the growing number of pharmaceutical companies that have decided to support early stage life science with a dedicated investment fund – the Helsinn Investment Fund SA.

UK-based Crescendo Biologics Ltd has secured its first commercial deal since its founding in 2007 with the signing of a collaboration and license option agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. The deal concerns several preclinical drug candidates that have been derived from the VH antibody domains of transgenic mice.

Sanofi SA has received a second multi-million dollar contract from the US government’s biomedical advanced research and development authority (BARDA) for research into new medicinal products  – this time for a product to treat acute radiation syndrome in the event of a public health emergency.

Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA, an Italian biotech with a Zurich listing, has raised CHF 26.1 million (€23.8 million) with a private equity placement, which will help cover marketing and research and development costs through 2018.

A new oncology company, Carrick Therapeutics Ltd, has been launched in Dublin, Ireland with $95 million in seed funding to build a portfolio of personalised medicines based on emerging knowledge about cancer growth and resistance at a molecular level.

Zealand Pharma A/S has raised DKK143 million ($22 million) with a private placement of new shares at DKK 96.90, a 5% discount from the market price before the announcement.

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has expanded its oncology portfolio to include oncolytic virus technology through a collaboration with privately held ViraTherapeutics GmbH of Austria. The deal is potentially worth €210 million.

A UK start-up company called GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd has joined a small number of European companies that are exploring the potential of gamma delta T cells as the basis for new immunotherapies for cancer.

Amgen Inc has signed a research agreement with two Milan-based institutions to develop an ex-vivo gene therapy for cancer. The research will be based on some of the same principles that guided the development of Strimvelis, an ex vivo stem cell gene therapy that was approved by the European Commission in May of this year.

A privately held Irish medical technology company has raised €16.2 million in capital to support the commercialisation in Europe of an implant and delivery system that closes blood vessels after certain medical procedures. The company, Vivasure Medical Ltd, is based in Galway.