Research by Douglas Melton of Harvard University and colleagues showing that insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells can be created in a laboratory has reached the stage of commercialisation with the launch of a new company aimed at bringing a cell therapy for diabetes into human trials.
Essex Woodlands, one of the world’s largest investors in pharmaceuticals and healthcare services, has teamed up with the serial entrepreneur Bryan Morton to launch a new UK-based speciality pharmaceutical business with a portfolio of marketed products that generated $27 million in sales in 2014.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has taken the unusual step of making a $52 million equity investment in CureVac GmbH of Germany which has technology for making prophylactic vaccines that don’t require cold chain storage and distribution. The technology is based on messenger RNA.
Nicox SA, which is engaged in ophthalmic product development, has raised €27 million through a share placement with institutional investors in order to finance the marketing of its late stage products.
AbbVie Inc has raised the bar for oncology acquisitions with an agreement to buy Pharmacyclics Inc and its recently approved drug Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for blood cancers for a cash and share offer totaling $21 billion. The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies.
A prostate cancer vaccine which has been in development for more than a decade is now the subject of an exclusive option agreement between at Bavarian Nordic A/S of Denmark and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, the total value of which could reach $975 million.
The Nikon Corporation of Japan has made a strategic move into the healthcare sector with plans to acquire Optos Plc of the UK for £259.3 million. Best known as a producer of cameras, Nikon began a strategic review of its operations as film-based cameras started giving way to the new digital technologies.
Belgium-based Cardio3 BioSciences SA has raised €32 million through a private placement of its shares with investors in the US and Europe. The funds will support its cell therapy for the treatment of heart failure as well as recently acquired chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology.
Prexton Therapeutics SA, a 2012 spin-out of Merck Serono, has raised €8.7 million in a Series A financing round to support development of new compounds for the treatment of central nervous system disorders. The candidate compounds are allosteric modulators.
Shire Plc, whose portfolio is split between treatments for rare diseases and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, has acquired Meritage Pharma Inc and its late-stage product for eosinophilic esophagitis, an inflammatory disorder of the esophagus.