News

Circassia Ltd, which is testing a novel immunotherapy for four major allergies, has raised £200 million in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.

AstraZeneca Plc has completed the sale of its largest research facility at Alderley Park in Cheshire UK to Manchester Science Parks, a public-private enterprise, for an undisclosed amount.

Privately-funded Glycotope GmbH of Germany has raised €55 million in additional equity from its investors in order to complete proof-of-concept studies of two antibody therapeutics for cancer that have been developed using glycosylation technology.

Lombard Medical Technologies Plc, a medical device company which is delisting its shares in London and offering them in the United States via a Cayman Islands holding company, reported a 13% increase in 2013 revenues to $7 million and a 52.7% increase in its operating loss to $20 million.

Life Science Partners (LSP) of Amsterdam, the Netherlands has announced the closing of a new fund that will invest in companies with marketable products in the areas of medical technology, diagnostics and e-health. The fund has raised €112 million from private investors.

Verona Pharma Plc, which develops medicines for respiratory diseases, has announced a share placement, subscription, and open offer with the intention of raising up to £14 million before expenses. The funds will be used to develop a compound for COPD.

Oxford Gene Technology Ltd, which provides equipment for genetics research, has acquired Cytocell Ltd, a Cambridge, UK-based supplier of probes for detecting DNA sequences called fluorescence in situ hybridisation or FISH. Financial terms were not disclosed.

An experimental medicine for patients with polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer, has met is primary endpoint in a global Phase 3 trial conducted by Novartis. The treatment Jakavi (ruxolitinib) is an inhibitor of the JAK 1 and JAK 2 tyrosine kinases.

Roche has told a scientific meeting in San Diego that its candidate antibody for patients with severe uncontrolled asthma and high levels of periostin has shown promising results in two Phase 2b studies. The antibody, lebrikizumab, targets IL-13.

Merck & Co Inc said told a scientific meeting in San Diego that its candidate immunotherapy for house dust mite allergy showed a significant dose-and time-dependent reduction in a nasal symptom score. The therapy is called MK-8237.