SkyePharma Plc said that bondholders have approved a major debt refinancing that will lighten its short-term liquidity commitments. Separately, the company confirmed that it is due €4 million following the launch of flutiform in Germany.
Elan Corporation Plc is refinancing its long-term to take advantage of low interest rates. If successful, the offering would eliminate the Dublin-based company’s long-term, high-interest debt and pave the way for refinancing on better terms.
Wellington Partners has raised €70 million for a new life science fund that will support early-stage European companies – with an emphasis on medical devices, diagnostics and drug-device
Clinigen Group Plc, which services clinical trials and markets an antiviral drug to treat herbes viruses, will be listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market from 25 September - the first pharma IPO on the AIM market in five years.
CureVac GmbH, developer of a novel messenger RNA vaccine technology, has obtained €80 million in new financing from its principal shareholder, dievini Hopp Biotech Holding, enabling it to advance the clinical development of its lead product – a therapeutic vaccine for prostate cancer.
Evotec AG has secured a multi-year contract with the US National Institutes of Health to manage the institute’s small molecule repository, a library of small-molecule compounds. The agreement, which may last for up to 10 years, is valued at €60 million.
Venture-capital backed Immune Targeting Systems Ltd has reported the results of its first clinical test of a new synthetic peptide vaccine for influenza A. It has also announced changes in top management ahead of a new funding round.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has invested $5.5 million in Response Genetics Inc through a private share placement giving it 15.2% of the expanded share capital of the US diagnostics company. GSK in-licenses genetic testing services from the company.
The Anglo/Russian pharmaceutical company, Pro Bono Bio Group Plc, has reported promising pre-clinical data for a new group of haemophilia products that would act longer than existing blood factor proteins thereby enabling patients to self-administer treatments at home. The preclinical data still must be confirmed in human trials and approved by a regulator before any products could be marketed.
SV Life Sciences and Novo A/S are among the four new investors supporting a Series B financing round for Karus Therapeutics Ltd of the UK. The investors have thus far committed $7.6 million to support programmes in inflammation and cancer.