Finance, Grants, Deals

Novartis is continuing to restructure its portfolio with the planned acquisition of a prescription medicine for dry eye disease from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. It is paying $3.4 billion upfront for the product, which has been approved in multiple markets including the US, Canada and Australia. Potential milestone payments are up to $1.9 billion.

Announced on 9 May, the transaction comes just one month after Novartis spun-off its Alcon eye care division whose portfolio consists of devices including surgical instruments for cataract and retinal surgery.

BioNTech SE has taken a further step in building its portfolio of antibody assets with the acquisition of an early clinical-stage antibody and preclinical assets from MabVax Therapeutics Holding Inc of San Diego, US. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

H. Lundbeck A/S is poised to expand its portfolio of medicines for neurological diseases with the acquisition of Abide Therapeutics Inc, a US company whose lead product is being developed for Tourette syndrome and neuropathic pain. The product, ABX-1431, inhibits the serine hydrolase monoacylglycerol lipase (MGLL), a key enzyme in the brain.

According to the US National Cancer Institute, the compound has potential for use in the  treatment of various central nervous system (CNS) diseases because of its analgesic and anti-neuroinflammatory activities.

Confo Therapeutics NV, which has a new approach to drug discovery, has raised €30 million in a Series A financing round – one of the largest A financing rounds in Belgium. The round was led by the Dutch early-stage investor BioGeneration Ventures and co-led by Wellington Partners with participation by eight other institutions including Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), a co-founder of the company.

Promethera Biosciences SA has completed a Series D financing round to support the development of its cell therapies for liver disease, raising €39.7 million from global investors. A total of €10 million of the funding was committed by the Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corp in January.

A new Switzerland-based company, Alentis Therapeutics Ltd, has received CHF 12.5 million (€11.1 million) in Series A funding to develop an antibody drug for the potential treatment of liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The technology is based on research conducted by scientists at the University of Strasbourg and Inserm in France, as well as the Mount Sinai Hospital in the US.

PolyProx Therapeutics Ltd, a spin-out of the University of Cambridge, has secured £3.4 million in seed capital to finance the development of a new class of engineered proteins for treating cancer. The seed round was co-led by Cambridge Innovation Capital Plc, RT Capital Management and Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of Cambridge University.

UK-based Congenica Ltd has raised an additional £13.25 million in a Series B round extension, bringing total receipts from the round up to £23.3 million. Led by Parkwalk Advisors with participation from Cambridge Innovation Capital Plc, the funding will enable the genome services group to further develop its technology and expand in the US and China.

AstraZeneca Plc has entered into a research collaboration and exclusive licensing deal with Transgene SA of France to co-develop five oncolytic virus drug candidates for the treatment of cancer. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Oncolytic virus therapies are genetically modified viruses that are injected into tumour cells to cause cell death and as a second step, stimulate the immune system. To date, one oncolytic virus product, Amgen Inc’s Imlygic for the treatment of melanoma, has been approved for marketing, but many more are in development.

Cambridge Innovation Capital Plc is leading an investment group that includes Genentech to provide seed capital to promising life science and healthcare companies in the UK and elsewhere. The seed capital will be issued by a new business accelerator called Start Codon located in Cambridge, UK.