Finance, Grants, Deals

The battle for Illumina Inc has heated up following Illumina’s rejection of a revised takeover bid from the Roche group on 2 April 2012, and a statement from Roche criticising the US company’s management.

AstraZeneca Plc is to pay $50 million upfront to Amgen Inc in a deal where the two companies will jointly develop and commercialise five monoclonal antibodies from Amgen’s clinical inflammation portfolio. AZ announced the agreement on 2 April.

For the second time in a little more than a year, GlaxoSmithKline Plc has raised its stake in Theravance Inc of the US with whom it has collaborations for late-stage products for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.

ThromboGenics NV, a Belgian company developing ophthalmic medicines, has raised €77.8 million in a private placement of its shares arranged by KBC Securities NV, Merrill Lynch International and Petercam NV.

A new financing initiative to support early-stage drug development is being launched in the UK – this time to support promising projects in the field of oncology.

Promethera Biosciences SA, which is developing a therapy for liver disease using allogeneic stem cells derived from healthy adult human livers, has raised €23.6 million in a series B financing round that included four corporate investors.

Celtic Therapeutics Management LLLP, the New York offshoot of Celtic Pharma, has launched a Swiss-based company to develop antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) in order to take advantage of the growing participation of major pharmaceutical companies in this sector.

Index Ventures has announced the launch of a new €150 million fund to support early-stage, research intensive companies in the life science sector. Significantly, the fund is being financially supported by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and the venture capital affiliate of Johnson & Johnson Inc. Representatives from both multinationals will sit on the fund’s scientific advisory board.

ThromboGenics NV of Belgium has partnered its lead drug for sight impairment with the Alcon division of Novartis for potential fees of €375 million. Under the agreement, Alcon obtains marketing rights for Ocriplasmin (microplasmin) outside the US.

Elan Corporation Plc of Ireland said that it has received a net $381 million from the sale on the US Nasdaq market of 76% of its holdings in Alkermes Plc, a biopharmaceutical company with headquarters in Dublin and an R&D center in Waltham, Massachusetts, US.