An initial public offering of shares in the Belgium-based molecular diagnostics company, Biocartis Group NV, raised €100 million on Euronext Brussels in late April, making it one of the largest life science offerings on a European stock market this year.
Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA, which has an approved drug for Parkinson’s disease, has raised CHF 24.3 million (€23.6 million) in a private share placement to accelerate the development of its pipeline of candidate treatments for diseases of the central nervous system.
The Clinigen Group Plc, a specialty pharmaceutical company, successfully raised £135 million in late April to finance its £225 million acquisition of Idis Group Holdings Ltd, a supplier of unlicensed medicines to the hospital market.
Crispr Therapeutics AG of Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts has raised an additional $64 million in venture capital to progress its gene-editing technology towards the development of new medicines. The financing was led by SR One, the venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline Plc, and Celgene Corp.
GW Pharmaceuticals Plc, a developer of cannabinoid medicines, is raising $179.2 million through a share offering on the Nasdaq exchange in a continuation of a trend in which European pharmaceutical companies increasingly finance themselves in the US.
Nordic Nanovector ASA, which is developing a radio-immunotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphomas, has raised a NOK 575 million (€68.4 million) in an initial public offering of its shares on the Oslo Stock Exchange. ABG Sundal Collier Norge ASA and DBN ASA led the syndicate.
BioInvent International AB plans to raise SEK 75 million (€8 million) in a rights issue to investors to further develop its anti-cancer antibodies. Shareholders of record on 24 April will receive rights to purchase four new shares for every nine held.
Perrigo Company plc, the Ireland-based pharmaceutical conglomerate, has rejected a takeover bid from the global generics manufacturer Mylan NV (formerly Mylan Inc) while Mylan itself has spurned a takeover approach from Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals Industry Ltd.
Thrombogenics NV has teamed up with the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) to create a new oncology company, Oncurious NV, which will re-start development of an antibody that was once licensed to Roche. Called TB-403, the antibody targets placental growth factor.
An initial public offering for Biocartis Group NV is under way on Euronext Brussels stock exchange in a book-building process that will determine the offering price. The Belgian company’s main product is a portable machine for the molecular diagnosis of cancer and other diseases.