Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd, a developer of gene sequencing technology, has raised £31.4 million in new funding in a private placement of its ordinary shares. Nearly all of the funds have been supplied by the company’s existing investors.
MorphySys AG expects to start reporting clinical data on its lead antibody compound, MOR103, in the third quarter of this year. A trial in patients with rheumatoid arthritis will report first, followed in 2013 by data from a trial in multiple sclerosis.
New research has been published in Nature suggesting that the peptide pyroglutamate amyloid beta may play a crucial role in the initiation of Alzheimer’s disease. The research was conducted by scientists at Probiodrug AG and their academic partners.
A new company dedicated to the discovery of small-molecule immunomodulators to treat cancer has been launched in the Walloon region of Belgium. The company, iTeos Therapeutics SA, has secured €9 million in Series A funding.
Novartis is to significantly expand its Sandoz generics business with the acquisition of Fougera Pharmaceuticals Inc, a US specialty dermatology business with net 2011 sales of $429 million. Novartis is paying $1.53 billion in cash.
Like many pharmaceutical companies, H. Lundbeck A/S expects that the loss of patent protection for key medicines will depress earnings in 2012. But offsetting this will be the potential launch of four new products over the next 18 months.
Galecto Biotech AB has expanded its investor syndicate and raised a further €5 million to support the development of its small-molecule modulators of the galectin family of proteins. Total capital raised thus far is €10 million.
Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a Swiss specialist in drugs for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), has reported positive data from a Phase 3 trial for a new PAH agent that support the company’s quest to extend its franchise in this area.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has announced the start of a new academic collaboration to discover future drugs, this time with Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, US. The project will focus on proteolysis targeting chimeric molecules.
Despite a strong first quarter, Sanofi SA is bracing itself for an increase in generic competition this year with the result that group earnings per share could decline by as much as 15% for 2012 as a whole. The French company gave the update on 27 April.