Vifor Pharma Group has expanded its presence in nephrology with the acquisition of two companies with therapies addressing specific aspects of vascular calcification. The companies are Sanifit Therapeutics SA of Spain and Inositec AG of Switzerland.
A cell therapy company launched by Syncona Ltd in 2019 has completed an oversubscribed Series B financing round to start the clinical development of a compound to prevent organ rejection in liver transplant patients. Quell Therapeutics Ltd raised $156 million from a consortia co-led by Jeito Capital, Ridgeback Capital Investments, SV Health Investors and Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC. Syncona also participated in the round.
Quell is developing engineered T regulatory (Treg) cells as therapies.
Finland-based Valo Therapeutics Oy has raised €11 million in an over-subscribed financing round to support a first clinical trial of it lead cancer drug – an antigen-coated oncolytic virus. The financing, announced on 15 November, was led by the corporate advisory firm Ironside Capital. Existing investor Freeman Road Pty Ltd participated in the round as did new investor MMJ Group Holdings of Australia. The round is being described as a prelude to an initial public share offering.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has negotiated rights to a candidate treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) from Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc which uses RNA interference (RNAi) technology to reduce levels of the liver enzyme ALT and address the disorder. The candidate therapy, ARO-HSD, targets the protein-coding gene HSD17B13 which is involved in the metabolism of hormones, fatty acids and bile acids. NASH is a disorder in which excessive fat builds up in the liver, causing inflammatory damage and fibrosis.
Novo Nordisk A/S is to acquire Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc, a company developing candidate RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics for multiple diseases including cardiometabolic, viral, and chronic liver indications. Under the terms of the agreement, Novo will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Dicerna for $38.25 per share for a total equity value of $3.3 billion.
Sanofi SA has announced an equity investment of $180 million in Owkin, a company with an AI platform which enables scientists to conduct research on diseases without having to pool data centrally. The model, called ‘federated learning,’ enables data scientists to securely connect to decentralised, multi-party data sets and create AI models for targeted drug discovery. Owkin is based in New York City, US but has scientific roots in France.
Syncona Ltd has taken the lead in financing a new cell therapy company that is developing induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived medicines. Clade Therapeutics, located in Cambridge, US, has a platform technology that ‘cloaks’ human pluripotent stem cells and their adult derivatives enabling the development of immune compatible cell transplantation therapies. The company is initially focused on demonstrating the potential of cloaked immune cells as cancer treatments.
Organon, a recent spin-off of Merck & Co Inc, is to expand its portfolio of assets in reproductive health with the acquisition of Forendo Pharma Ltd of Finland. Organon has agreed to pay up to $954 for the Finnish company, a figure that includes potential outlays for the achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones. Forendo’s lead product is being developed for endometriosis, a chronic condition that affects up to one in 10 women of reproductive age.
Agomab Therapeutics NV is to acquire Origo Biopharma SL of Spain for an undisclosed sum in order to advance its strategy of targeting growth factor signalling pathways for the development of new therapies. The acquisition comes less than a year after Agomab, which is based in Belgium, raised $74 million in a Series B financing round led by Redmile Group of San Francisco, with participation from Cormorant Asset Management LLC of Boston, US.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd is to acquire the cell therapy company GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd, exercising an option that it obtained in 2017 from the UK company’s venture capital sponsor Abingworth LLP. Takeda is to make a pre-negotiated upfront payment for GammaDelta as well as potential development and regulatory milestone payments. In 2017, Takeda committed to invest up to $100 million in GammaDelta which included an equity investment.