Finance, Grants, Deals

The Spanish pharmaceutical company Almirall SA has received a €120 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support research into new treatments for inflammatory and dermatological diseases.

The loan is being granted under a European Commission ‘Investment Plan for Europe’ that is mobilising public funds for new technologies and employment. The company will direct the funds towards research into pathologies such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and actinic keratosis, a type of precancerous cutaneous lesion.

AbbVie Inc is making a cash and stock offer valued at $63 billion for the specialty pharma company Allergan Plc, a move that will diversify its portfolio ahead of the loss of patent protection for its lead rheumatoid arthritis product Humira (adalimumab). Humira generated revenue of $20 billion last year, or 68% of AbbVie’s total revenue, but it will lose patent protection in 2023.

The offer is about four times Allergan’s 2018 revenue of $15.8 billion and represents a premium of 45% over the target company’s closing share price on 24 June. Allergan is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Luxembourg-based Vesalius Biocapital Partners has closed its third life science fund, raising €120 million for later-stage European companies. The fundraising includes a commitment of €30 million from the European Investment Fund and new and existing investors from Europe, the Americas and the Middle East and North Africa.

The UK medical charity LifeArc is to make a $30 million equity investment in the antibody therapeutics company Kymab Ltd along with a licencing agreement giving it rights to the company’s drug discovery platform. The investment is taking place in two stages. An initial $10 million has already been paid, while the final $20 million will come at a future date. Kymab will also receive a percentage of revenues that LifeArc generates from any products discovered and commercialised using its technology.

NOXXON Pharma NV is to test its RNA oligonucleotide drug NOX-A12 in a new cancer indication after signing an agreement with an unidentified large pharma company to conduct preclinical studies of the drug.

Calliditas Therapeutics AB of Sweden has entered into a licencing agreement with Shanghai-based Everest Medicines II Ltd to develop and commercialise its candidate drug Nefecon (budesonide) for the Chinese market. Nefecon is currently in a Phase 3 pivotal trial for the treatment of patients with the chronic autoimmune kidney disease IgA nephropathy. The agreement gives Everest exclusive rights to develop and, depending on regulatory approval, sell the drug in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore.

Belgium-based Imcyse SA has raised €35 million in a Series B financing round to support development of its immunotherapies for severe chronic diseases. The funding comes as the company awaits data from a multi-centre trial of its lead peptide-based product in patients with recent onset, insulin-dependent Type 1 diabetes. The double-bind, placebo-controlled Phase 1b study is expected to report results at the end of the summer.

Pfizer Inc has upped the stakes in the pharma competition for new assets with an agreed takeover of Array BioPharma Inc for $11.4 billion. The transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies and will be financed with borrowings as well as cash, Pfizer said on 17 June. The deal comes nearly six months after Albert Bourla, the company’s former chief operating officer, took over as chief executive from Ian Read.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc is to provide $67 million over five years to help establish a new laboratory at the University of California to investigate how gene mutations cause disease and the role gene editing can play in discovering new treatments. The laboratory project is being led by Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor of the Crispr gene editing technology, and Jonathan Weissman, a leader in Crispr screening technology. Hal Barron, GSK’s chief scientific officer, has also played a role in launching the project. Dr Barron has been the CSO at GSK since January 2018.

The UK medical charity LifeArc has provided £1.5 million in seed funding to a four-year old company, Ducentis BioTherapeutics Ltd, that is investigating molecules for treating inflammation and autoimmune disease. Ducentis was co-founded in 2015 by Philip Huxley, an expert in drug discovery, and David Blackbourn, head of the School of Biosciences and Medicine at the University of Surrey, UK to exploit the CD200 axis. CD200 is a glycoprotein expressed on multiple cells and tissues which uses a receptor, CD200R, to transmit signals affecting responses in multiple physiological systems.