News

Germany-based CureVac BV, which is developing a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against Covid-19, has made an initial public offering of its shares on the US Nasdaq market raising approximately $213.3 million. The offering is expected to close on 18 August.

It consists of 13.3 million common shares at a price of $16 per share Underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.9 million shares at the offer price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. The shares were scheduled to start trading on 14 August.

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H. Lundbeck A/S generated a 5% increase in revenue to DKK 8.9 billion (€1.2 billion) in the first half of 2020, while also recording higher spending on research and development. This included spending on a newly approved product for migraine as well as the impairment of an asset.

The European Commission has concluded an advance purchase agreement with AstraZeneca Plc for the supply of up to 400 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine which it is developing with the University of Oxford. Announced on 14 August, the agreement covers the initial purchase of 300 million doses, with an option for an additional 100 million. The price was not disclosed. However in a separate announcement, AstraZeneca said it would supply the vaccine “in an eqitable manner at no profit during the pandemic.”

Evotec SE continued to expand its capacity for servicing drug development in the first half year by signing new contracts with existing and new pharma partners. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the company increased staff levels by 8%.

A syndicate led by Cowen Healthcare Investments has raised $60.8 million for the late-stage development of an antifungal agent that has been designed to treat life-threatening invasive fungal infections. The candidate drug, olorofim, has been developed by F2G Ltd, a company co-located in the UK and Austria. It is in a Phase 2b study and has received a breakthrough therapy designation from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Besides Cowen, the syndicate includes the existing investors Novo Holdings, Morningside Ventures, Brace Pharma Capital and Advent Life Sciences.

Immunic Inc, which is co-located in the US and Germany, has raised gross proceeds of $103.5 million to support development of its pipeline of small molecule immunology drugs, the most advanced of which is being investigated for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. The underwritten public offering of 5.75 million shares was priced at $18 per share, a discount from its closing price on Nasdaq on 4 August of $19.43.

SVB Leerink was the bookrunning manager for the offering. Wedbush PacGrow and Ladenburg Thalmann acted as co-managers.

Data from two Phase 3 studies of the antibody therapeutic ofatumumab in relapsing multiple sclerosis have been published in the 6 August 2020 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, illustrating the drug’s possible role as a first-choice option for patients with the disease, Novartis announced on 5 August. The data compared ofatumumab with teriflunomide (Aubagio), a marketed multiple sclerosis treatment.

Germany-based Medigene AG continued to progress its pipeline of cellular immunotherapies for cancer in the first half year of 2020 with the launch of a Phase 1 trial of a candidate product for patients suffering from relapsed blood cancers.

Freeline Therapeutics became a public company on 7 August with the issue of 8.8 million American Depositary Shares on the US Nasdaq market raising gross proceeds of $158.8 million for the development of its portfolio of gene therapy products. The lead product, FLT180a, is in a Phase 1/2 study for patients with haemophilia B, a blood clotting disorder caused by a missing or defective Factor IX clotting protein.

The ADSs, which represent 8.8 million ordinary shares, were priced at $18 per ADS. They will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FRLN.

A Phase 3 trial of the checkpoint inhibitor Tecentriq (atezolizumab), combined with paclitaxel, did not reach statistical significance on its primary endpoint of progression free survival in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer, the developer Roche announced on 6 August. This is despite the fact that an earlier study of the same drug showed a benefit.