Evolva SA of Switzerland has raised an additional CHF 21 million (€13.9 million) to finance its takeover of Arpida Ltd, creating a new publicly-listed company with a technology platform that uses synthetic biology to create new small molecule drugs.
GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay €33.6 million upfront and to make an equity investment of up to €84 million in Intercell AG in order to gain access to the Austrian company’s needle-free, patch-based vaccine technology.
Europe’s IPO market reopens. After remaining dormant since early 2008, the European market for initial public offerings (IPOs) of biotech companies has reopened with a
Cosmo Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. is offering to acquire a 2002 Roche spin-out for CHF 41.3 million (€27.4 million) giving it access to a novel treatment for pain, and research and development assets that could lead to drugs for urological indications.
Phytopharm Plc has obtained underwriting commitments to increase its share capital by 267% following the announcement in October 2009 of favourable results from two studies of Cogane, the company’s treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
Curetis AG, a German diagnostics company, has raised €18.5 million in a Series A round in order to complete development of its diagnostic products for detecting severe infectious diseases. The round was led by Life Sciences Partners.
AstraZeneca Plc is to pay $200 million upfront for rights to a candidate product for depression that works by modulating the activity of various neuronal nicotinic receptor subtypes. The agreement is with Targacept Inc of the US.
Argen-x BV, a Dutch biopharmaceutical company that is discovering and developing a new type of antibody, has raised an additional €3 million in a Series A equity financing round, bringing the total raised for the round to €12.5 million.
Bavarian Nordic A/S has announced plans to raise DKK 250 to 300 million (€34 to 40 million) in a rights issue in order to support its biodefence and cancer programmes. The issue is expected to be completed at the beginning of 2010.
Biomedical Diagnostics, a French in vitro diagnostics company that produces products to detect auto-immune diseases, has raised €3 million in a private share placement led by Truffle Capital and AGF Private Equity.