Enterprise Therapeutics Ltd, which is developing compounds for respiratory diseases by targeting unwanted mucus in the lungs, has raised £29 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round co-led by Versant Ventures and the Novartis Venture Fund.
Orchard Therapeutics Ltd has come closer to its goal of becoming a global supplier of gene therapies following an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Plc to take over that company’s portfolio of gene therapies for rare diseases.
Wilson Therapeutics AB is to be bought by Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc for $855 million in a deal that underscores the potential of the Swedish company’s lead product for Wilson disease, a rare genetic disorder that prevents the body from regulating copper. The disease can lead to liver and brain damage.
MorphoSys AG has filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public offering of its shares on the Nasdaq market. The offering will consist of up to 8.3 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs), the German company said on 9 April.
Novartis appears set to become a first mover in gene therapy again with the agreed acquisition of AveXis Inc, a company with a late-stage gene replacement therapy for treating spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (EdRIP) has separated from the Rothschild banking group to become an independent firm owned by its 55 employees and trading under the new name Andera Partners. The move comes as European venture capital becomes more international, and competition for promising assets increases.
France-based Cellectis SA has acquired a new partner for its portfolio of products for cancer that are based on donor T cells that have been engineered to target specific antigen on cancer cells. The allogeneic portfolio had been licensed to Pfizer Inc and Servier.
Paris-based Sofinnova Partners has launched a new €275 million fund to expand the scope of its investments in life science to include late-stage private and public companies primarily located in Europe.
Subject to approval from US regulators, Bayer AG hopes to conclude its $66 billion takeover of Monsanto Co in the second quarter. The transaction would be the third merger of its kind in just under 12 months, illustrating the global consolidation of the agrochemical and seed businesses. This is being enabled by biotechnology, which makes it possible for crops to be engineered to resist insects, and digital technology which gives farmers new tools for managing their fields.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd, which only recently launched an agreed bid for the Belgian cell therapy company TiGenix NV, has confirmed that it is “considering making an approach” to Shire Plc – a much larger company. Shire responded that “it has not received an approach from Takeda.”