Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA said that it has raised CHF 7.9 million (€5.2 million) in a private share placement with institutional investors in order to finance its pipeline of new drugs. The company’s lead product is safinamide for Parkinson’s disease.
NicOx SA, a publicly listed French company with a drug for osteoarthritis currently in review at the US Food and Drug Administration, has announced plans to raise fresh capital in a private share placement supported by the French FSI.
Astex Therapeutics Ltd of Cambridge, UK, has concluded a drug discovery deal with GlaxoSmithKline giving GSK access to its fragment chemistry platform. The deal includes upfront and equity investments valued at £20 million.
Sanofi-Aventis said that it has expanded its monoclonal antibody collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc with a view to bringing four to five new antibody candidates into the clinic per year. It will spend $160 million annually on the project.
Qiagen NV, a Netherlands-based provider of sample and assay technologies, is to acquire the privately-held SABiosciences Corp of the US for $90 million in cash. The deal will give the Dutch company access to assay panels to analyse new drug targets.
Pfizer Inc has decided to pay $1 million for access to a drug delivery technology developed by Flamel Technologies SA of France. The purpose is to develop a controlled-release formulation of a marketed therapeutic protein.
The publicly-traded Swedish speciality pharmaceutical company, Biovitrum AB, has announced plans to merge with closely-held Swedish Orphan International AB to create a new company with SEK 2 billion (€191 million) in revenues and an orphan drug franchise.
Probiodrug AG, a German company that has discovered a novel target with a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and additional inflammatory conditions, has raised €36 million in a Series B financing.
PDC Biotech GmbH, a privately-held Austrian company that is developing peptide antagonists to treat uterine contractions, has raised €4 million in a Series A financing led by MIG Verwaltungs AG and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.
Proximagen Neuroscience Plc, a King’s College London spin-out that recently raised £50 million on Britain’s junior stock market, has expanded its portfolio of CNS drug candidates with the acquisition of Cambridge Biotechnology Ltd.