By Cormac Sheridan Staff Writer DUBLIN, Ireland – Elan Corp. plc continues to execute its M&A strategy at a dizzying pace, while its would-be acquirer, Royalty Pharma, has tabled a revised offer for the company, worth $12.50 per share or $6.37 billion. On Monday, Elan unveiled an acquisition agreement with AOP Pharmaceuticals AG worth €263.5 million (US$339.3 million) in cash (€175.7 million) and shares (€87.8 million) initially – plus another potential €270 million in milestones – and a deal to
Embryonic stem cells have been the subject of so many political fights that it's easy to forget they have also faced formidable scientific obstacles. But they have. Human eggs, it turns out, are far more fragile than those of most other mammals – including those of other primates. And so, methods that have been used to clone mammals from Dolly the sheep to Snuppy, the cloned dog that was South Korean stem cell scientist Woo-Suk Hwang's only non-fraudulent claim to fame, have failed to produce
By Anette Breindl and Nuala Moran | BioWorld International | Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The growth equity arm of Novo A/S has clocked up its first major pharmaceutical investment, a $700 million buyout of generic antibiotics developer and manufacturer Xellia Pharmaceuticals AS, under a new investment strategy it formulated more than a year ago. The deal exemplifies Hellerup, Denmark-based Novo's intentions to build large-scale, long-term positions in mature, low-risk companies. That represents a shift from its original strategy, involving earlier-stage companies approaching
By Cormac Sheridan | BioWorld International | Wednesday, May 22, 2013
LONDON – Merck Serono is enlarging its venture fund from €40 million to €100 million (US$51 million to $128 million) – increasing its capacity to invest in early stage companies, technologies and products that can be shaped up for the company's internal pipeline. "We started four years ago with €40 million, and that was always on the understanding it was not enough for a sustainable long-term fund," said Roel Bulthuis, head of the MS Ventures fund. "What the organization has seen is that the
By Nuala Moran | BioWorld International | Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Baliopharm GmbH, a subsidiary of Baliopharm AG, of Basel, Switzerland, joined the NEU2 Consortium with a project addressing the recombinant manufacturing of an Fc-free bispecific CD20-CD95 antibody construct (Novotarg) with selectivity for activated B cells and efficacy studies in disease models relevant to multiple sclerosis therapy. The two-year project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Bayer AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, signed an agreement to acquire the
DUBLIN, Ireland – Elan Corp. plc continues to execute its M&A strategy at a dizzying pace, while its would-be acquirer, Royalty Pharma, has tabled a revised offer for the company, worth $12.50 per share or $6.37 billion. On Monday, Elan unveiled an acquisition agreement with AOP Pharmaceuticals AG worth €263.5 million (US$339.3 million) in cash (€175.7 million) and shares (€87.8 million) initially – plus another potential €270 million in milestones – and a deal to acquire a 48 percent stake in
By Cormac Sheridan | BioWorld International | Wednesday, May 22, 2013
LONDON – Peptides that can boost the immune response to bacteria could lead to a novel therapy for sepsis – and may also make it possible to develop a new generation of vaccines. Mice given the peptides were able to eliminate bacteria faster in a murine model of bacterial peritonitis. In addition, when the peptides were added to blood taken from patients with sepsis-induced immunosuppression, the treatment was able to rescue the blood cells' ability to mount an inflammatory response. The
By Sharon Kingman | BioWorld International | Wednesday, May 22, 2013
LONDON – As pharma's quest for pipeline-boosting innovation pushes further into academia, GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) has launched Discovery Fast Track to accelerate the translation of target biology into drug candidates. The company is organizing a competition in which academics submit a one-page application outlining a novel drug development concept. Ten winners will get access to GSK facilities to scale up biological reagents and develop assays to underpin high-throughput screening against the
By Nuala Moran | BioWorld International | Wednesday, May 22, 2013
By Cormac Sheridan Staff Writer DUBLIN, Ireland – Elan Corp. plc continues to execute its M&A strategy at a dizzying pace, while its would-be acquirer, Royalty Pharma, has tabled a revised offer for the company, worth $12.50 per share or $6.37 billion. On Monday, Elan unveiled an acquisition agreement with AOP Pharmaceuticals AG worth €263.5 million (US$339.3 million) in cash (€175.7 million) and shares (€87.8 million) initially – plus another potential €270 million in milestones – and a deal to