News

Woodford Investment Management LLP has raised its stake in Imperial Innovations Group to 21% making it the group’s second most significant investor behind Invesco Asset Management.

Medical device company Mainstay Medical International Plc has raised €30 million in a share placement to new and existing investors to commercialise its implantable neurostimulation device for back pain in Europe and complete a trial for a US regulatory submission.

Sweden-based Medivir AB has engaged professional advisors to investigate the possibility of reorganising the company into two independent businesses in order to deliver more value to shareholders. The announcement was made to the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange on 15 June.

Allecra Therapeutics, a three-year old biotech company co-located in Germany and France, has raised €22 million in a Series B investment round to finance the development of an antibiotic combination therapy designed to treat Gram-negative bacteria.

Gilde Healthcare Partners BV has raised €250 million for its fourth life science fund that targets investments in medical devices, digital health technology and therapeutics in Europe and North America. Koninklijke Philips NV acted as a cornerstone investor.

The European Medicines Agency has agreed to give an accelerated review of a gene therapy being developed by Kite Pharma Inc that promises to improve the standard of care for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), a type of blood cancer.

A Phase 1 study of 18 patients with severe osteoarthritis of the knee has shown that a single injection of stem cells derived from the patients’ own adipose tissue was safe and appeared to offer relief from pain. 

Vedanta Bioscience Inc has raised $50 million in equity finance to advance candidate therapies targeting the human microbiome for the treatment of infectious and autoimmune diseases.

Ablynx NV, a Belgian developer of antibody fragments originating in llamas, has raised €74.2 million with a private placement of new shares.

Life Sciences Partners BV has closed its fifth fund, LSP 5, with a total investment of $280 million, comfortably higher than its initial target of $170 million. The fund will aim to invest in around 20 companies across the healthcare sector.