As part of an ongoing out-licensing policy, AstraZeneca Plc has reached an agreement to transfer a candidate product for multiple system atrophy to Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd of the US for further clinical development and commercialisation. The product, AZD3241, has completed a Phase 2a clinical study.
Roche’s Genentech has committed funding of $96 million to Affimed NV for rights to the German company’s biologics platform for the production of cancer therapies targeting natural killer (NK) cells in the innate immune system. The platform can generate antibodies directed against NK cells as well as against T cells of the adaptive immune system.
Novo Nordisk A/S has entered a research alliance with Evotec AG to discover and develop new small molecule therapies for diabetes and obesity, diseases that affect an estimated one billion people worldwide. Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.
Novo Nordisk A/S has acquired a UK university spin-out with technology for a new generation of insulins that would be released automatically into the bloodstream in response to a rise in blood glucose levels. In principle this would make it easier for people with diabetes to manage their disease and achieve tight control over blood glucose levels.
The private equity group Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) is to acquire Abzena Plc, a service company based in Cambridge UK, that has built up an international business in antibody discovery and chemistry services with subsidiaries in two locations in the US.
The acquisition values Abzena at 16 pence per share or approximately £34.4 million, which is more than double the closing price of the company’s shares on the AIM market in London on 15 August. The price is about 1.5 times the company’s revenue of £22 million in the fiscal year ended 31 March 2018.
Germany-based BioNTech AG is to expand its portfolio of individualised therapies beyond cancer to include infectious disease. Under a new collaboration with Pfizer Inc, the two companies will develop messenger RNA-based vaccines for the prevention of influenza.
The agreement involves an initial payment of $120 million to BioNTech plus potential development, regulatory and commercial milestones of up to up to $305 million.
Crescendo Biologics Ltd has reached a new milestone in a strategic collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd which is directed at developing novel drugs for cancer. The drugs are biologics which are based on the human variable domain of an antibody. The size of the milestone payment wasn’t disclosed but it is the second to be achieved this year under a 2016 collaboration between the two companies, Crescendo announced on 15 August.
Orchard Therapeutics Ltd has raised $150 million in a Series C financing round to advance its portfolio of ex vivo gene therapies, the most advanced of which is in registration trials for the treatment of an ultra-rare disease that damages the immune system.
The oversubscribed financing round was led by Deerfield Management Company LP with significant new investments from RA Capital Management and nine other funds. Existing investors also participated in the round including Temasek, Baillie Gifford and Cowen Healthcare Investments.
Allergan Pharmaceuticals International Ltd has exercised an option to develop and commercialise a pre-clinical drug candidate that uses the CRISPR gene editing tool to potentially correct mutations in Leber Congenital amaurosis (LCA), a serious eye disorder.
Bluebird bio Inc, which is developing gene therapies for cancer and rare diseases, is partnering with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc to discover, develop and commercialise new therapies for cancer. The deal includes a $100 million investment by Regeneron in bluebird stock.