Are venture capitalists getting better terms from their portfolio sales to Big Pharma or is it the other way around? In a lively discussion about the state of the biotech industry, panelists from the world of venture capital and industry said the relationship between the two parties can be prickly at times. But both sides need one another. The discussion took place at the annual Bio-Spring meeting in Barcelona Spain on 11 March 2013.
Mesoblast Ltd of Australia has raised A$170 million (€136.3 million) in a private placement of its shares with existing and new investors including M&G Investment Management and Capital Research. The monies will fund the company’s cell therapies.
Shire Plc has expanded its portfolio of potential medicines for rare diseases with the acquisition of the privately-held Swedish company, Premacure AB, of Uppsala. The key asset is a protein replacement therapy for the prevention of retinopathy of prematurity.
A new UK start-up based on technology from King’s College London has received funding from Advent Venture Partners. CoCo Therapeutics Ltd will progress an approach for Alzheimer’s disease that involves the retinoic acid receptor, RAR-alpha.
A US medical technology company, Electrical Geodesics Inc (EGI), has announced plans to raise funds and seek admission to the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. EGI is based in Eugene, Oregon.
Ablynx NV has announced that its private placement of shares was oversubscribed with the result that it raised €31.5 million by way of an accelerated bookbuilding procedure announced on 27 February.
Ablynx NV has announced plans for a capital increase of around €20 million through a private placement of shares with institutional investors. The price of the shares will be set via an accelerated book-building process.
Glide Pharma Ltd has completed a fifth funding round raising £14 million to scale up manufacturing for the production of its solid dose injector system which includes drug product and device. The new round brings funds raised to date to £24.9 million.
Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation BV of the Netherlands and Germany, has raised €7.5 million from a Dutch investment group in an extension of its Series A financing round. The new funds supplement €16.5 million raised earlier from European and US backers.
A potential $6.6 billion bid for Elan Corp was made 25 February by a private New York investment firm called Royalty Pharma LLC and potentially rejected by Elan’s board of directors.