Shire Plc is to buy Baxalta Inc for about $32 billion in cash and shares after some six months of negotiation in which Shire obtained professional advice that the transaction would be tax-free to Baxalta shareholders, who are to end up with 34% of the combined company.
The human microbiome took front stage in early January 2016 when two large pharma companies sealed drug discovery deals with France-based Enterome Bioscience SA, a pioneer in microbiome research.
Kymab Ltd of Cambridge, UK is taking its antibody technology to Texas in order to work with scientists at the MD Anderson Cancer Center to discover and develop new monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and biomarkers to identify responder populations.
Complix NV of Belgium has entered into a discovery collaboration agreement with Merck & Co Inc to develop treatments against two undisclosed cancer targets using technology that it says can penetrate cell membranes and modulate intracellular disease targets.
Baxalta Inc has acquired options to buy six checkpoint inhibitors from the Denmark-based antibody developer Symphogen A/S in a move that may strengthen its hand in takeover discussions with Shire Plc. These discussions are reportedly nearing a conclusion.
Crispr Therapeutics AG of Switzerland and Bayer AG of Germany are to form a jointly owned company to exploit Crispr’s gene-editing capabilities and Bayer’s expertise in engineering proteins to develop new therapeutics, the two companies announced on 21 December.
Privately-owned Servier of France has exercised an option to acquire equity in GeNeuro SA, a Swiss biotech that is poised to test a new antibody in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
Inthera Bioscience AG, a Swiss start-up company with a new approach for treating cancer, has received €3.4 million in seed money from a syndicate of venture capital investors led by MS Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Merck KGaA.
AbbVie Inc may have surprised Galapagos NV in September when it ended a multi-year agreement to develop a new drug for rheumatoid arthritis. But now Galapagos has responded with a new deal with Gilead Sciences Inc for the same drug, but on better terms.
Abzena Plc has made its second acquisition in three months in order to expand the number of services it markets to companies developing biopharmaceutical products for human disease. The deal highlights strong activity in the space for biosimilars and antibody-drug conjugates.