News

Shire expands portfolio

Country
Ireland

Shire Plc has moved to further strengthen its portfolio with the purchase of Fibrotech Therapeutics Pty Ltd, an Australian company specialising in treatments for fibrosis. This comes a little more than three months after acquiring the rare disease specialist ViroPharma Inc.

Enterome raises €10 million in Series B

Country
France

Enterome Bioscience SA, a French company developing diagnostics for diseases linked to the gut microbiome, has raised €10 million in a Series B equity financing from a syndicate led by Seventure Partners and Lundbeckfond Ventures.

Tau pathway is focus of new BMS investment

Country
United States

The tau pathway is the focus of a new investment by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company which is planning to spend $175 million in cash and potential milestones of $550 million to acquire the privately-owned biotechnology company iPierian Inc.

Zealand produces turnaround in Q1

Country
Denmark

Zealand Pharma A/S, a Danish producer of peptide drugs, had a profit of DKK 28.8 million in the first 2014 quarter compared with a loss of DKK 57.3 million a year earlier.

GSK moves to broaden sales base

Country
United Kingdom

GlaxoSmithKline Plc faced strong competition to its respiratory franchise in the US in the first quarter with the result that group sales declined by 2% at constant exchange rates and the company’s core operating profit was flat.

Silence Therapeutics raises £11.4 million

Country
United Kingdom

Silence Therapeutics Plc, a UK company exploring potential therapeutics based on RNA interference, has raised £11.4 million in a private equity placement with institutional investors and management to support its ongoing research and development activities.

Sanofi remains on target for growth

Country
France

Sanofi SA continued its momentum towards a recovery of sales and stronger earnings in the first quarter as most of its diversified portfolio showed year-on-year revenue gains measured in constant currencies.

MorphoSys in new antibody discovery deal

Country
Germany

MorphoSys AG is set to install its latest antibody discovery technology at a unit of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US as part of an alliance aimed at identifying new antibodies f

Pfizer’s approach to AZ appears to gain traction

Country
United States

Pfizer Inc’s potential bid for AstraZeneca Plc appeared to be gaining traction following a Pfizer conference with analysts on 28 April and a formal declaration of interest to the London Stock Exchange earlier the same day.

AZ says there is no specific proposal from Pfizer

Country
United Kingdom

AstraZeneca Plc has issued a statement saying that in the absence of a “specific and attractive proposal” from Pfizer Inc to merge, it would be inappropriate to engage in discussions on the matter.