Gilead Sciences Inc has made a dramatic entry to the field of regenerative medicine with an agreed bid for Kite Pharma Inc which has a portfolio of engineered cell therapies, the most advanced of which is under review in both the US and the EU.
Macrophage Pharma Ltd has topped up a Series A financing round announced in January with an investment from Merck Ventures BV, a subsidiary of Merck KGaA. The size of the investment is reportedly £3 million, bringing the total raised in the A round up to £12 million.
A Munich-area company specialising in messenger RNA (mRNA) technology has entered into a drug discovery deal with AstraZeneca Plc. Ethris GmbH will receive €25 million upfront, plus research funding, to develop therapies for respiratory diseases.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has entered into a collaboration with Insilico Medicine Inc to use the US company’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform to discover new drugs. This is its second AI deal in less than two months.
Underwriters for the US initial public share offering of Zealand Pharma A/S have exercised an option to buy more shares, increasing proceeds for the Danish company to DKK 566.4 million ($89.4 million), up from DKK 492.5 million ($78.3 million) previously.
Denmark’s Zealand Pharma A/S has raised DKK 492.5 million ($78.3 million) from its previously announced initial public share offering on Nasdaq in the US. The goal is to support the clinical development of two of its peptide therapeutics.
While new collaborations spring up regularly among developers of antibody drugs, existing partnerships also expire.
After securing rights to a compound developed by Innate Pharma SA in 2011, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) has expanded its investment in innate immunity with the purchase of IFM Therapeutics Inc of Boston, Massachusetts.
Denmark’s Zealand Pharma A/S started its previously announced initial public share offering on Nasdaq in the US on 1 August with the goal of raising $86 million for the clinical development of two of its peptide therapeutics.
Evotec AG is to acquire another drug service company – its second takeover in less than a year – with the agreed purchase of Aptuit LLC for $300 million. Aptuit provides drug discovery and development services to companies in the US, Europe and India.