Novo Nordisk A/S has become the latest producer of a diabetes medicine to stop supplying the German market following a disagreement over pricing. Novo will cease supplying Tresiba (insulin degludec) in Germany after 30 September 2015.
Abingdon Health Ltd, a UK-based diagnostic company, has obtained £3 million from a syndicate of investors led by Imperial Innovations Group Plc to support the commercialisation of its recently launched device to detect multiple myeloma.
DBV Technologies SA, a French company which is developing a patch for peanut and milk allergies, has announced plans for a second US share offering in less than a year to support development of its technology.
Cosmo Pharmaceuticals SA, a closely held developer of gastrointestinal products, has spun out around half of its subsidiary, Cassiopea SpA, on the SIX Swiss Stock Exchange, but the majority shareholders of Cosmo will remain majority shareholders of Cassiopea.
A public US share offering of Pieris Pharmaceuticals Inc (formerly Pieris AG) has been priced at $2.75 per share for the 9,090,909 shares on offer, giving net proceeds of $22.7 million, a figure that could rise if over-allotments are exercised.
Munich-based Medigene AG has secured €46.4 million in new capital through the placement of shares with existing shareholders and new institutional investors to support clinical development of its dendritic cell (DC) vaccines against cancer and other immunotherapy projects.
A second drug being developed by Roche for Alzheimer’s disease has failed an efficacy test – this time in a Phase 2b trial. The drug, sembragiline (RG1577, EVT302), is an inhibitor of an enzyme that contributes to the production of free radicals, which contribute to the disease’s pathology.
Celgene Corporation is set to pay $1 billion for access to engineered T cell technologies developed by Juno Therapeutics Inc in one of the year’s most significant oncology deals. The 10-year collaboration will focus on chimeric antigen receptor technology and T cell receptor technologies.
Transgene SA, a publicly-listed biotech whose majority shareholder is Institut Mérieux, has announced plans to terminate its pharmaceutical development and bio-manufacturing activities resulting in the loss of about 120 jobs, or about 41% of its workforce.
Eli Lilly and Company and Immunocore Ltd have agreed to test two potential combination therapies for the treatment of melanoma that involve Immunocore’s T cell receptor technology together with two of Lilly’s experimental kinase inhibitors.