News

Roche has confirmed plans to raise its dividend this year against a background of higher sales in the first quarter and regulatory approvals for three new indications for its cancer medicines in the US and drug approvals in cancer and haemophilia in the EU.

The Swiss company declared a dividend of CHF 8.70 per share for 2018.

The Dutch cell therapy company Kiadis Pharma NV has taken steps to strengthen its presence in the haematopoietic stem cell transplant sector with the agreed takeover of CytoSen Therapeutics Inc. The all-share transaction includes an upfront payment in stock as well as milestone payments contingent on the achievement of six clinical development and regulatory goals. CytoSen’s lead asset is a natural killer (NK) cell product designed to enable patients to receive a stem cell transplant from haploidentical donors. It is due to enter clinical development in 2020.

Gilead Sciences Inc and Novo Nordisk A/S of Denmark have decided to pool their resources to test a new combination therapy for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a chronic and progressive liver disease characterised by the accumulation of fat and inflammation in the liver.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc has reported positive Phase 3 data for a trial of its ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) drug, givosiran, in patients with acute hepatic porphyria (AHP). AHP refers to a family of rare, genetic diseases characterised by potentially life-threatening attacks and for some patients, chronic debilitating symptoms that negative affect their quality of life.

On the heels of a regulatory approval, Nanobiotix SA has raised €29.5 million in a private share placement to continue the clinical development of its radioenhancer products for the treatment of cancer. The placement was oversubscribed during an accelerated bookbuilding process. Both existing and new investors from the US and Europe supported the offering.

UK-based Destiny Pharma Plc is stepping up the pace of development for its lead antibacterial XF-73 with the start of a 200-patient Phase 2b study in April. The topical treatment is being investigated for the prevention of post-surgical staphylococcal infections including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a major public health threat. XF-73 is administered as a nasal gel where it has been shown to reduce the nasal carriage of the S. aureus bacteria.

Novartis completed the previously-announced spin-off of its eye care division Alcon on 9 April, creating a new public company with listings on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

As an independent company, Alcon Inc will have sales of about $7 billion and a staff of more than 20,000 employees. Novartis acquired Alcon from Nestle SA in 2011 in a phased transaction valued at $51.6 billion. It is divesting the company in order to focus on pharmaceutical research and development.

The ReNeuron Group Plc has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with a subsidiary of the Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co Ltd of China for the development, manufacture and commercialisation of its two allogeneic cell lines which underpin the UK company’s candidate cell therapies for neurological disorders and diseases of the retina.

Germany’s Medigene AG has secured a licensing and collaboration deal with a new Asian biotech which will develop and commercialise its prospective T cell immunotherapies in China, South Korea and Japan. The new company, Cytovant Sciences, has been launched by Roivant Sciences Ltd of Switzerland and Sinovant Sciences in China.

The Dutch biotech, Synaffix BV has secured a deal in China that expands the use of its conjugation technology for antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), while generating income of up to $125 million. Announced on 10 April, the agreement will give Shanghai Miracogen Inc non-exclusive rights to two of Synaffix’s proprietary technologies. One is a conjugation technology that exploits the native glycan for the attachment of a toxic payload to an antibody; the other uses polar spacer technology to link the antibody to a cargo.