The Biotechnology Value Fund (BVF) LP of the US and affiliates have invested €30 million via a share placement in Evotec AG and taken out an option to buy a further stake from an existing shareholder, which could raise the holding to more than 18%.
AstraZeneca Plc said that its biologics arm, MedImmune, has reached agreement to acquire privately-held Amplimmune of Maryland, US in a move that will strengthen its portfolio of immune-mediated cancer therapies.
Amgen Inc has reach agreement to take over Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc for $10.4 billion in cash thereby strengthening its oncology portfolio and acquiring a marketed product for multiple myeloma. The agreement was announced on Sunday.
A Phase 3 study of vercirnon, an investigational drug for patients with Crohn’s disease, has failed to meet its primary endpoint of improvement in clinical response, and a secondary endpoint of clinical remission, GlaxoSmithKline Plc said.
Bavarian Nordic A/S, the Danish vaccine developer, reported a 25% increase in revenue to DKK 556 million (€74.5 million) in the first-half year as a result of continuing US sales of its smallpox vaccine, Imvamune, and recognition of previous deliveries.
Ablynx NV, which makes antibody fragments for itself and others, reported a 22.3% decline in revenue in the first half year to £12.9 million. However, its operating loss contracted by 24% to €10.9 million, mainly as result of lower research expenses.
TiGenix NV, the Belgian developer of cell therapies, reported a 7.5% increase in sales to €2.3 million in the first half as it continued to roll out the cell therapy, ChondroCelect. In response to an auditor's note, it announced plans to raise working capital.
For the first time, researchers have identified the majority of mutational signatures associated with tumour development in 30 of the most common cancer types. The findings, published in Nature, are expected to inform future strategies for disease prevention and treatment.
Medivir AB has announced plans to discontinue development of one type of hepatitis C virus drug in order to concentrate exclusively on nucleotide-based polymerase inhibitors. It will discontinue work on NS5A replication complex inhibitors.
SkyePharma Plc has started to achieve commercial momentum from the roll-out of its asthma treatment flutiform – illustrated by a 58% increase in sales for the first half of 2013. The revenue increase was primarily due to flutiform sales.