Ipsen SA of France is out-licensing two of its peptide therapeutics programmes that target metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders and obesity to Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, a venture capital-backed company in Boston, Massachusetts.
Cellzome Inc said that it has secured a new drug discovery deal with GlaxoSmithKline under which the companies will seek to identify small-molecule drugs against epigenetic targets. Cellzome will receive €33 million upfront.
Novartis AG is raising $5 billion with a three-tranche bond issue to finance part of its pending acquisition of Alcon Inc, a large eye-care company with sales of approximately $6.5 billion in 2009.
A French producer of therapeutic vaccines for cancer has raised €13.1 million from private and public sources in order to bring its lead product, a therapeutic human papillomavirus vaccine, into the clinic.
Merck KGaA of Germany has made an agreed bid for the US service provider, Millipore Corp, in a transaction valued at $7.2 billion, including net debt. The merged company is expected to have critical mass in bioresearch and bioprocessing.
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd has partnered its Phase 3 antifungal agent, isavuconazole, with Astellas Pharma Inc of Japan, making it eligible for an upfront payment of CHF75 million (€51 million).
In a boost for the emerging field of epigenetics, privately-owned CellCentric Ltd of Cambridge, UK has negotiated access to one of its cancer discovery programmes to Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. The deal is valued at about $200 million.
Glide Pharmaceutical Technologies Ltd has raised £2.7 million in a new investment round bringing total funds raised for its needle-free delivery technology up to £10 million. The funds will be used to take its second drug product into the clinic.
Novartis AG has in-licensed a new compound for the treatment of hepatitis C that is described as the first in a new class of drugs called cyclophilin inhibitors. The deal was announced on 9 February, 2010 but no financial details were disclosed.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd said that it will use the proceeds of a new funding round amounting to £17.4 million to support its technology platform and in particular, its lead project in DNA sequencing.