H. Lundbeck A/S has entered a collaboration with a US start-up company specialising in small molecules that target RNA, as part of a drive to expand its portfolio of medicines for central nervous system disorders. The collaboration is with Rgenta Therapeutics Inc of Cambridge, Mass, US, which has technology for identifying regulatory sites in RNA that are amenable for modulation by small molecules.
A bidding contest between Philip Morris and Carlyle, a private equity firm, for ownership of the UK pharma company Vectura Group Plc has taken an unexpected turn. Vectura’s board of directors has received a higher offer for the company from Carlyle and has announced plans to recommend that shareholders approve it. This comes just a month after the board recommended an offer from Philip Morris International, which in turn had outbid an earlier offer from Carlyle.
Bayer AG has expanded its oncology portfolio with the acquisition of Vividion Therapeutics Inc of the US and its proprietary drug discovery platform. Vividion’s technology involves identifying previously unknown pockets on well-validated protein targets implicated in a wide range of diseases. The company’s lead programmes are small molecule drugs targeting NRF2 mutant cancers as well as NRF2 activators for a number of inflammatory diseases. NRF2 is a protein that helps regulate the work of antioxidant proteins that protect against oxidative damage.
Sanofi SA is to further extend its investment in messenger RNA (mRNA) technology with a bid to acquire Translate Bio Inc, a company with which it has had an mRNA vaccine collaboration since June 2018. The French company is offering $38 per share in cash for Translate Bio, giving a transaction value of $3.2 billion. Sanofi will finance the deal internally.
T-knife Therapeutics Inc has raised $110 million in a Series B financing round to advance its preclinical portfolio of T cell receptor (TCR) therapies for cancer. The technology originated in Germany and will be developed and commercialised by teams based in Berlin and San Francisco, US.
The Italian healthcare group, Angelini Pharma, has become the sole institutional investor in a new venture fund that will provide capital to promising neuroscience companies in North America. The fund will be managed by Lumira Ventures of Canada and is called Angelini Lumira Biosciences Fund (ALBF). Angelini will commit $35 million to the fund in addition to investing $5 million in Lumira Ventures IV, a separate fund.
AC Immune SA is to acquire a candidate vaccine and other assets to treat Parkinson’s disease in a strategic move to broaden its portfolio of drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The Switzerland-based company already has a portfolio of candidate drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. The acquisition – from Affiris AG of Austria – will give it a vaccine for Parkinson’s disease which has been validated in a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Artios Pharma Ltd, which is building a portfolio of small molecule drugs designed to kill cancer cells by blocking their ability to repair damaged DNA, has raised $153 million in a Series C financing round. The company is preparing to take a compound targeting DNA polymerase theta (Pol theta) into clinical development before the end of the year. Pol theta is an enzyme that plays a role in the proliferation of certain cancer cells but which is not necessary for normal cell growth.
GHO Capital Partners LLP, a specialist healthcare investor located in London, UK, has closed its third fund, raising more than €2 billion in capital for investment. The company invests broadly, providing money to enterprises in the medical device and technology sectors, biopharmaceutical enterprises, and companies delivering services to patients.
A UK company with technology for delivering peptides to the cytosol of cells, has raised £6.2 million in seed financing to investigate the application of its technology across a range of therapies. The financing was co-led by incoming investor Octopus Ventures and existing investor M Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA. NanoSyrinx was founded in 2020 by Joseph Healey, Nicholas Waterfield and Alexia Hapeshi to commercialise research conducted at the University of Warwick’s Medical School.