Sanofi-aventis said it has reached an agreement to buy the privately-owned French opthalmology company, Fovea Pharmaceuticals SA, for up to €370 million. This includes €90 million upfront as well as future milestone payments.
Silence Therapeutics Plc, which is working in the field of ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi), said that it is in talks that could lead to a reverse takeover of the company. Trading in the company’s London-listed shares has been suspended.
The Pharming Group NV has metaphorically pulled a transgenic rabbit out of a hat by submitting an expanded marketing authorisation application to the European Medicines Agency for Rhucin, a treatment for hereditary angioedema, and by persuading 70% of its convertible bondholders to forego receiving €50,000 per bond in three years and instead accept €7,500 plus shares now.
Solvay SA has become the latest European company to alter its business strategy with a decision to sell its pharmaceutical business to Abbott Laboratories for €4.5 billion. It will reinvest the proceeds in chemicals and plastics.
Crucell NV said that it has entered a strategic collaboration with a Johnson & Johnson unit to develop a universal monoclonal antibody for the treatment and prevention of influenza. J&J has also paid €301.8 million for an 18% stake in Crucell.
Qiagen NV, a Dutch provider of sample and assay technologies, has acquired DxS Ltd, of Britain in a transaction that will expand Qiagen’s market position in molecular diagnostics for personalised medicine.
The European Commission’s research partnership with industry aimed at finding new ways of making drug development more efficient is preparing to launch a new series of projects valued at €156.3 million
Cell Medica Ltd, an early-stage cellular therapeutics company, has received £1.95 million in new funding in order to commercialise its lead product, a cell therapy technique which protects patients from infection following a bone marrow transplant.
The Wellcome Trust and Merck & Co have created a social business to develop affordable vaccines for diseases prevalent in low-income countries.
A venture capital-backed antibody company called Argen-x BV has raised €9.5 million in a Series A financing round from a syndicate of investors, co-led by Forbion Capital Partners and Life Sciences Partners, both of the Netherlands.