Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi), a developer of drugs for rare diseases, has terminated discussions with an undisclosed party in relation to a possible takeover proposal for the company. Sobi announced the end of discussions on 8 June.
Allergy Therapeutics Plc, a UK-based specialty pharmaceutical company, has paid €3.8 million in cash for Alerpharma SA of Spain in order to increase its presence on the Spanish market for allergy therapies where it already has a subsidiary.
Abivax SAS, which is developing a compound that inhibits HIV replication, has announced plans to raise €43.6 million in an initial public offering on the Paris Euronext exchange, a figure that could rise to €57.7 million if an overallotment option is exercised.
Lund, Sweden-based Active Biotech AB is to let go 84% of its workforce following the termination of a Phase 3 clinical programme for a prostate cancer drug that was shown to delay disease progression, but did not extend overall survival. The drug, tasquinimod, was being developed with Ipsen SA.
Silence Therapeutics Plc of the UK has confirmed that patients with incurable pancreatic cancer benefited from treatment with its RNA interference (RNAi) compound, which works by silencing a gene linked to a protein responsible for cancer metastases.
The Netherlands-based cell therapy company Kiadis Pharma BV is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares on the Euronext stock exchanges in Amsterdam and Brussels to finance the clinical development of a cell therapy that helps reconstitute the immune system after a bone marrow transplant.
Amgen Inc and Roche have decided to jointly conduct human trials in a prospective immunotherapy for cancer that combine’s Amgen’s oncolytic vaccine talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC)) with Roche’s checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab.
Patients with one of four subtypes of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have shown a response to treatment with a CD-19 antibody called MOR208 which was administered as a monotherapy. Data from the Phase 2a study also showed the drug was well tolerated, according to the developer MorphoSys AG.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company said that its marketed cancer drug Opdivo (nivolumab) has shown a significant survival benefit for patients with non-small cell lung cancer raising the possibility that it could establish a new standard of care for the disease.
Merck & Co Inc said that its checkpoint antibody Keytruda (pembrolizumab) achieved an overall response rate of 25% in patients with metastatic head and neck cancer. The Phase 1b study included 132 heavily pre-treated patients.