Novartis is proposing to acquire the contract manufacturer CellforCure of France in order to boost capacity for the manufacture of cell and gene therapies. Financial terms of the proposed transaction were not disclosed.
Evox Therapeutics Ltd is to use its exosome-based technology to work on prospective delivery approaches for an anti-infective drug from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Separately, the company also appointed Edwin Moses, the former Ablynx chief executive, as non-executive chairman of its board of directors.
Novo Holdings A/S is providing $15 million in Series A financing for the launch of a new San Diego, US-based company with plans to build a portfolio of drugs targeting serious inflammatory diseases. Aristea Therapeutics Inc will use the funds to start a Phase 2 trial of a small molecule anti-inflammatory drug in-licensed from AstraZeneca Plc called RIST4721.
In connection with the financing, Tiba Aynechi and Ken Harrison from Novo Ventures (US) Inc, which is owned by Novo Holdings, will join Aristea’s Board of Directors.
Summit Therapeutics Plc plans to raise $25 million in a private share placement that will finance a Phase 3 clinical programme of the investigational antibiotic ridinilazole for the treatment of Clostridium difficile.
The funds will also support a product to treat gonorrhoea which is poised to enter Phase 1 and a group of discovery assets targeting pathogens (ESKAPE pathogens) that are responsible for the majority of nosocomial infections in the world.
Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG has raised CHF 23.5 million (€20.82 million) in a share placement to complete the acquisition of rights to vamorolone, a synthetic glucocorticoid corticosteroid which is being developed for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
e-Therapeutics Plc is to collaborate with Novo Nordisk A/S to discover potentially novel therapeutic approaches for treating a specific area of Type 2 diabetes. The two companies will use e-Therapeutics’ discovery platform to identify new biological pathways and compounds.
The agreement lasts 12 months. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Argenx NV has secured a licensing agreement for its early-stage antibody drug cusatuzumab with Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies to develop the drug for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Announced on 3 December, the deal features an upfront cash payment of $300 million and potential milestones of $1.3 billion.
In addition to the current and future cash payments, Janssen will purchase $200 million of newly issued Argenx shares representing 4.68% of the Belgian company’s outstanding shares at a price of €100.02 per share.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has taken a major step to rebuild its oncology portfolio with the agreed acquisition of Tesaro, Inc for $5.1 billion which has a poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor on the market for the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer. This drug is Zejula (niraparib).
The Germany-based biotech company, Adrenomed AG, has raised €24 million in a Series D financing round to secure the clinical development of a new medicine for septic shock, a life-threatening condition that occurs when a person’s blood pressure drops after an infection.
Evotec AG has launched a new drug discovery collaboration involving artificial intelligence – this time to identify small molecules to treat rare hereditary metabolic diseases. The partner is Immuneering Corp of Cambridge, Massachusetts which is 51% controlled by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Immuneering applies AI and other advanced algorithms to data derived from high throughput screening. The goal is to identify molecular structures that could form the basis of new medicines.