Ipsen SA of France is combining its holdings of potential haemophilia drugs with those of Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals Inc of California, US to create a franchise that Ipsen hopes will exceed $1 billion by 2020.
Evotec AG has reinforced its position in drug discovery with a new agreement to identify potential treatments for Huntington’s disease. The agreement comes at a time when the Germany-based company is narrowing its strategic focus after setbacks more than a year ago with two clinical-stage products
GlaxoSmithKline is to make 13,500 potential malaria compounds freely available to researchers from around the world in a bid to stimulate work on medicines for the developing world. It is also allocating $8 million to a new research foundation.
The privately-held Danish diagnostics company, Dako Denmark A/S, has signed a deal with AstraZeneca to develop companion diagnostic tests for a number of AstraZeneca’s oncology projects. Financial details were not disclosed.
Galápagos NV has reached its first milestones in a research alliance with an affiliate of Merck & Co ahead of schedule triggering payments of €3.6 million. Together with upfront fees of €4 million, total payments to the Belgian company are €7.6 million.
A novel licensing deal among two German universities and the UK Medical Research Council’s commercialization arm is expected to lead to the development of a potential new therapy for rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
BioMedPartners of Switzerland said that it has closed its second healthcare venture capital fund, BioMedInvest II, at CHF 106 million (€71.7 million). The new fund will invest in private, early to mid-stage healthcare companies in Europe.
Actelion Ltd of Switzerland has received the support of an advisory committee of the US Food and Drug Administration to expand the use of its drug for Gaucher disease to include Niemann-Pick disease.
Bavarian Nordic A/S, the Danish vaccine developer, has fixed the terms for its DKK 318.1 million (€42.7 million) rights issue.
Galápagos NV has entered into an alliance with Roche to develop potential therapies for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Galápagos has received €6 million upfront and said potential milestone payments could exceed €400 million.