Finance, Grants, Deals

Roche to acquire Anadys Pharmaceuticals

Country
Switzerland

The Roche group has reached an agreement to acquire Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc for $230 million in order to expand its franchise in treatments for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Anadys is located in San Diego, California.

Affiris to test Parkinson’s disease vaccine

Country
Austria

Affiris AG of Austria has received $1.5 million from the Michael J. Fox Foundation in the US to start a Phase 1 study of a new vaccine for Parkinson’s disease. The therapeutic vaccine candidate targets the protein, alpha-synuclein.

Vernalis reaches milestone in research collaboration

Country
United Kingdom

Vernalis Plc said it set to receive €0.5 million from the privately-owned French pharmaceutical company, Servier, following the achievement of a research milestone in the companies’ oncology drug discovery collaboration.

Creabilis raises €15 million in Series B round

Country
Luxembourg

Luxembourg-based Creabilis SA has raised €15 million in a Series B round led by Abbott Biotech Ventures to develop its lead product for psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, CT327, to the end of Phase 2. CT327 is a topically applied treatment.

Phagenesis raises €7 million in Series B round

Country
United Kingdom

A group of investors led by the venture capital group, Inventages, has raised €7 million in a Series B funding round for Phagenesis Ltd, the developer of a medical device for dysphagia, a condition that affects a patient’s ability to swallow.

Takeda completes acquisition of Nycomed

Country
Japan

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd has completed its €9.6 billion acquisition of privately-owned Nycomed A/S of Switzerland giving it cash flow from Nycomed’s €2.8 billion in annual sales as well as a recently launched product for COPD.

Silence secures second RNAi collaboration

Country
United Kingdom

Silence Therapeutics Plc has entered a second collaboration in under a month, this time with an unidentified pharmaceutical company to exploit Silence’s RNAi delivery technology. The follows an earlier agreement with a Dutch company in therapeutics.

Lundbeck to take equity stake in Proximagen

Country
United Kingdom

H. Lundbeck A/S has decided to invest £10.3 million in Proximagen Group Plc of the UK in the second alignment of companies involved in the CNS research space this week. The first was Biotie Therapies Corp’s announcement on 27 September of plans to acquire Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA.

Hypha in drug discovery deal with Ferrer Grupo

Country
United Kingdom

Hypha Discovery Ltd of the UK has entered into a discovery collaboration with Ferrer Grupo of Spain to identify new low-molecular weight natural products that could be used to treat microbial infections. Financial terms were not disclosed.