Sanofi Pasteur has become the second European company in a month to invest in antibody technology in order to discover new treatments for infectious diseases. It is paying €3 million upfront to Vivalis of France for access to the technology.
The French privately-owned immune therapy company, Cytheris SA, has raised €12 million in a Series D financing to accelerate development of its recombinant human interleukin-7 product, CYT107, for cancer and other indications.
Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands has signed an agreement with the US discovery-stage company, RXi Pharmaceuticals, to explore the use of ultrasound for the delivery RNA interference compounds in cells.
Imperial Innovations Group Plc, a UK technology transfer company, said that it has realised £9.5 million in cash following the sale of its portfolio company, Respivert Ltd, to the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc.
Noxxon Pharma AG said that it has raised €33 million in a Series D round of financing to support the ongoing clinical and preclinical development of its mirror-image oligonucleotides known as Spiegelmers. The round was led by NGN Capital.
The privately-owned UK pharmaceutical company, Funxional Therapeutics Ltd, has raised €10 million in a Series B funding to advance its lead, small molecule drug candidate into Phase 2 for inflammatory conditions including asthma.
TPP Global Development Plc, a newly formed investor in spin-outs from research institutes and universities, has received a £9.6 million investment from the Scottish Venture Fund and other investors.
Astellas Pharma of Japan is paying $4 billion in cash to acquire the US biotechnology company, OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc, giving it rights to the cancer drug, Tarceva (erlotinib). The purchase price is a sweetened $57.50 per share.
Intercell AG is investing €15 million to acquire antibody technology directed at discovering new therapies for infectious disease including hospital-acquired infections. It is buying the technology from Cytos Biotechnology Ltd.
Galapagos NV said that it has expanded a risk-sharing deal with Roche aimed at discovering new therapies against chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to increase the number of targets for antibody drugs. The deal dates from January 2010.