UCB SA of Belgium has acquired, for an undisclosed sum, research assets from venture-capital backed Lectus Therapeutics Ltd of the UK as well as rights to the company’s technology platform for ion channel discovery.
Gilead Sciences Inc said it has reached an agreement to acquire the Princeton, New Jersey-based Pharmasset Inc in order to accelerate the development of an all-oral compound for the treatment of HCV. The transaction is valued at $11 billion.
The Swiss molecular diagnostics company, Biocartis SA, has raised €71 million in a Series C round to support the development of its products including an integrated diagnostic that is expected to be launched in 2013.
Oxyrane UK Ltd has raised $26.5 million in a Series D financing to support the development of its enzyme replacement therapies for lysosomal storage diseases. The round was led by Morningside and joined by Forbion Capital Partners.
The Pharming Group NV, which is starting to receive income from the rollout in Europe of its recombinant C1 inhibitor for hereditary angioedema (HAE), reported revenue and income from continuing operations of €2.3 million for the first nine months of 2011.
H. Lundbeck A/S is to pay $200 million upfront to Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co Ltd of Japan as part of an alliance that will give it access to two late clinical stage CNS compounds including a new formulation of the antidepressant, aripiprazole.
H. Lundbeck A/S posted a 9.8% increase in revenue to DKK 3.97 billion (€0.53 billion) in the third quarter of 2011 compared with the year-earlier period but its operating profit fell by 22% to DKK 660 million due to an exceptional charge.
Paion AG reduced its loss in the first nine months of 2011 but said that difficult conditions on the capital markets and restrained investment by the pharmaceutical industry had delayed the planned out-licensing of two products.
Merck Serono is set to pay Ablynx NV €20 million upfront as part of a new agreement to co-discover and co-develop antibody-derived therapeutic proteins against two targets in osteoarthritis. This is an expansion of an existing partnership.
Oxford BioMedica Plc has entered into a research and development collaboration with the Mayo Clinic in the US to develop a gene therapy for the treatment of chronic glaucoma. It is the company’s second partnership in the area of eye disease.