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.
Privately-owned Symphogen A/S of Denmark is set to receive €20 million upfront from Merck Serono in exchange for rights to the Symphogen monoclonal antibody, Sym004, which is being developed for metastatic colorectal cancer.
Theravectys SAS of France, which is developing vaccines based on lentiviral vector technology, has secured €7.48 million from a group of private French investors. The new funds will help the company develop a candidate therapeutic vaccine for HIV.
Genmab A/S has entered into a licensing deal and equity investment with Johnson & Johnson Inc potentially valued at $1.1 billion for an early-stage antibody that targets CD38, a molecule that is highly expressed on multiple myeloma cells. The deal is the largest partnership in the Danish company’s history.
SkyePharma Plc, which specialises in measured delivery of inhaled and oral drugs, announced a major debt refinancing on 23 August 2012 along with its half-year results.