Finance, Grants, Deals

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc of California has made an agreed bid to buy Prosensa Holding NV of the Netherlands for $680 million in cash.

London-based Cell Medica Ltd has raised £50 million from institutional investors to support development of its lead oncology product, CMD-003, for the treatment of patients with advanced lymphomas associated with the Epstein Barr virus.

Pfizer Inc has signalled its determination to stay ahead in oncology by agreeing to pay Merck KGaA up to $2.85 billion for rights to the German company’s early-stage checkpoint inhibitor and collaborate on up to 20 other immuno-oncology programmes.

Dendreon Corporation, developer of the first ever FDA-approved cellular immunotherapy, announced on 10 November that it had filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.

Histide AG, a Swiss biotech company founded in 2014, has raised CHF 4.5 million (€3.74 million) to develop its extracellular technology for directing cell fate. The funds were provided by Parter Capital Group AG and a number of private investors.

Cardio3 BioSciences SA of Belgium has acquired the US medical device specialist, CorQuest Medical Inc, for an undisclosed amount of money in order to strengthen its heart failure franchise. Cardio3 already has an autologous stem cell treatment for heart failure in Phase 3 development.

AstraZeneca Plc has expanded its oncology footprint with a deal to acquire a German diagnostics company, Definiens GmbH, and a separate agreement to conduct clinical trials of new combination treatments for cancer with Pharmacyclics Inc of the US.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company has become the second large pharma company in recent weeks to invest in treatments for fibrosis with the signing of an option agreement to acquire Galecto Biotech AB of Denmark which has an early stage product for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Cambridge Epigenetix Ltd (CEGX), a spinout of the University of Cambridge that makes epigenetics tools, has raised $5.5 million from venture capital organisations in a Series A round. The financing was led by New Science Ventures LLP of New York, New York.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company has purchased an exclusive option to acquire F-star Alpha Ltd, a Cambridge, UK-based company which has a preclinical drug candidate targeting HER2-positive tumours including those that are refractory to trastuzumab and pertuzumab.