Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc has taken steps to expand its portfolio of marketed and investigational antibiotics with the acquisitions of Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc and Trius Therapeutics Inc. The deals were announced simultaneously on 30 July.
The Belgian university, KU Leuven, has joined forces with a small company in Finland to develop new immunotherapies using a proprietary gene expression technology. The Finnish partner is FIT Biotech of Tampere.
The science of epigenetics received a boost on 29 July with the announcement by Celgene Corporation of plans to invest in HDAC inhibitors under development by Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc of the US, with an option to buy the company.
The Board of Directors of Elan Corporation Plc has accepted a takeover bid by Perrigo Company, a large US wholesaler of healthcare products and generic prescription drugs, for $8.6 billion in cash and shares.
PolyTherics Ltd has strengthened its technology platform with the acquisition of Antitope Ltd, a provider of antibody engineering and immunogenicity screening services. It is issuing £13.5 million in new shares to finance the deal.
Cellular Dynamics International Inc, which is a producer of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), has priced its previously-announced initial public offering of shares at $12 per share. The shares will begin trading today on Nasdaq.
The ReNeuron Group Plc has secured new funding commitments of £33 million, enabling it to advance its three allogeneic stem cell programmes through Phase 2 development. The funding includes a large grant from the Welsh government.
Heptares Therapeutics Ltd has generated a stabilised form of a GPCR target under a research collaboration with Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc enabling the start of a drug discovery programme. Cubist works in acute care and is developing antibiotics.
TiGenix NV has raised €6.5 million in a private placement of its shares to finance the continued roll-out of its cell therapy for knee injuries ChondroCelect. A total of 26 million new shares were placed via an accelerated bookbuilding procedure.
The French specialty pharmaceutical company Ipsen SA has reached an agreement to acquire Syntaxin Ltd of the UK in a deal potentially valued at €158 million, while simultaneously announcing an agreement in neurology with Harvard Medical School.