Finance, Grants, Deals

Sanofi extends offer for Genzyme to 15 February

Country
France

Sanofi-Aventis SA is extending its offer for Genzyme Corp until 15 February 2011 at an unchanged price of $69 per share. The all-cash offer was previously scheduled to expire on 21 January. In share trading, Genzyme was quoted at $71.48 on 24 January.

GSK invests in epigenetic enzyme therapy

Country
United States

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to pay $20 million upfront to Epizyme Inc of Cambridge, Massachusetts for access to technology that targets histone methyltransferases (HMT), a class of epigenetic enzymes. The goal is to develop small molecule drugs against cancer and other diseases.

Qiagen gets access to biomarkers from German start-up

Country
Germany

The Netherlands-based diagnostics company, Qiagen NV, has acquired a minority stake in a German start-up company, Alacris Theranostics GmbH, which has a genome sequencing technology that can be used to generate biomarkers.

DBV Technologies raises $25.5 million in Series C round

Country
France

DBV Technologies SA has secured $25.5 million in a Series C round to support clinical development of a skin patch to treat peanut allergies. The round was co-led by new investors InnoBio Fund and Lundbeckfond Ventures.

Amarin raises $100.2 million in share offering

Country
Ireland

Dublin, Ireland-based Amarin Corporation Plc has raised a net $100.2 million in a secondary offering of its American Depositary Shares, the proceeds of which will be used to support the commercialisation of its lead cardiovascular product, AMR101.

Symphogen of Denmark raises €100 million

Country
Denmark

Privately-held Symphogen A/S of Denmark has raised €100 million from a group of investors for the development of its antibody therapeutics which it describes as including monoclonal antibodies, monoclonal mixtures and polyclonal antibodies.

Argen-X in antibody alliance with Eli Lilly

Country
Belgium

Venture-capital backed Argen-X BV of Belgium has secured its first corporate partnership in a deal with Eli Lilly and Co to discover and develop therapeutic antibodies against targets supplied by the US company.