GlaxoSmithKline Plc has shifted three candidate vaccines targeting filoviruses to the US non-profit organisation, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, as it restructurings its portfolio to put a bigger emphasis on oncology, HIV and respiratory diseases. The products are prophylactic vaccines to prevent infection from the Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and Marburg viruses. They entered GSK’s portfolio when the UK company acquired Okairos AG in 2013.
Less than a month after entering a collaboration with Genentech, Sosei Heptares has concluded a new G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-directed partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. The companies said they will initially discover targets for new gastrointestinal medicines, but this could expand to other therapeutic areas in the future.
Takeda already has a discovery collaboration with Sosei Heptares in the gastrointestinal area.
Germany-based Wellington Partners has closed its fifth life sciences fund with a capital raise of €210 million for investments in companies developing medicines, devices, diagnostics and digital technologies. The new fund will primarily target opportunities in Europe.
It expects to invest in approximately 15 to 20 companies with a particular focus on German-speaking geographies. It will however also consider opportunities in North America and Asia.
The French company, Alizé Pharma 3, has raised €67 million in a Series A financing round to advance two preclinical products for rare endocrine and metabolic diseases into clinical development. The funding round was led by Life Sciences Partners of the Netherlands and included Novo Ventures, Kurma Partners, Orbimed, Pontifax, Partners Innovation Fund and Innobio 2, which is managed by Bpifrance.
The existing shareholders, Sham Innovation Santé/Turenne Capital, Crédit Agricole Création and TAB Consulting also participated in the round.
Zambon Company SA has extended its presence in respiratory medicines with the acquisition of Breath Therapeutics Holding BV, a clinical-stage company with a product for treating patients with lung transplants who are at risk of dying because of a condition known as bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS).
Sosei Heptares has entered into a multi-target research collaboration and licence agreement with Genentech to discover and develop medicines that modulate G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), membrane proteins that are involved in a broad range of biological processes and diseases. GCPRs play a central role in cellular physiology including the regulation of the immune and nervous systems and the growth and metastasis of some types of tumours.
The investment group Medicxi Ventures (UK) LLP has raised €400 million for a third life science fund with the goal of investing across the life science sector from discovery to late-stage clinical programmes. Medicxi III closed in just six weeks, reflecting a renewed confidence in the sector.
Denmark-based Genmab A/S has raised $581.8 million from its initial public offering on the US Nasdaq market following a decision by underwriters to fully exercise their over-allotment option and buy more shares. Prior to the option exercise, Genmab had secured gross proceeds of $505.9 million. The final total was announced on 19 July.
Netherlands-based AM-Pharma BV has raised €116 million from a European syndicate of investors to conduct a Phase 3 trial of a drug for sepsis-associated acute kidney injury – a condition for which no pharmaceutical treatment currently exists. The financing round will enable the Dutch company to complete development of its wholly-owned product recAP as an independent company. In 2015, Pfizer Inc took out an option to acquire AM-Pharma, but last year it let the option lapse. The US company still is a minority shareholder.
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has acquired a private Swiss biotechnology company with a therapeutic cancer vaccine targeting late-stage colorectal cancer. AMAL Therapeutics SA has developed a vaccine that is based on a fusion protein designed to activate killer T cells to target and destroy a tumour while boosting immunological memory to prevent a relapse.