GlycoVaxyn AG, a privately-owned Swiss biotechnology company, has raised CHF 25 million in a Series B financing to support the clinical development of its lead vaccine candidate for intestinal infections.
Index Ventures, the Geneva-based venture capital company, has closed its fifth fund devoted to early-stage and seed investment in companies involved in advanced technologies. The fund, Index Ventures V, has assets of €350 million.
The Belgian-listed biotechnology company, ThromboGenics NV, has received a grant of up to €3.2 million to support the development of an antibody that would increase the platelet count of cancer patients who have had chemotherapy.
Heptares Therapeutics Ltd, a 2007 spin-out of the UK Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology, has raised £21 million in a Series A financing round from three venture capital firms.
GPC Biotech AG has entered into a merger agreement with the privately-held developer of cancer drugs, Agennix Inc of Houston, Texas.
Opsona Therapeutics Ltd, an Irish medical discovery company that targets the innate immune system as a way of treating autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, has raised €18 million in a Series B financing provided by the Novartis Venture Fund, Fountain Healthcare Partners, Inventages Venture Capital and Seroba Kernel Life Sciences.
The German molecular diagnostics company, Epigenomics AG, has raised €5.18 million in a share placement with two of its existing institutional investors. The proceeds will be used to finish the development and commercialisation of its most advanced product, a blood-based molecular diagnostic test for the early detection of colorectal cancer.
H. Lundbeck A/S of Denmark will substantially broaden its pipeline of central nervous system (CNS) products following the acquisition of the US-based specialty pharmaceutical company, Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The all-cash acquisition, which is valued at up to $900 million, was announced on 9 February 2009. It is expected to close in March.
Celtic Pharma Holdings Advisors LLP (CPHA) has picked a diagnostic devices company for the first investment of its new fund, Celtic Pharma Holdings II LP (CP2).
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to spend $34 million over 11 years on programmes to reduce the spread of tropical diseases in the poorest countries of the world. The funding was announced on 30 January 2009, and follows an announcement by Mr Gates that the foundation will significantly increase spending in 2009 on a range of projects, including biomedical research and healthcare.