Astellas Pharma Inc. announced it plans to acquire Iveric Bio Inc. in an all-cash deal in which it will pay $40 per Iveric share for a total equity value of roughly $5.9 billion. “Iveric Bio has promising programs including avacincaptad pegol (Zimura), an important program for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, and capabilities across the entire value chain in the ophthalmology field,” said Naoki Okamura, Astellas’ president and CEO.
Astellas Pharma Inc. announced it plans to acquire Iveric Bio Inc. in an all-cash deal in which it will pay $40 per Iveric share for a total equity value of roughly $5.9 billion. “Iveric Bio has promising programs including avacincaptad pegol (Zimura), an important program for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, and capabilities across the entire value chain in the ophthalmology field,” said Naoki Okamura, Astellas’ president and CEO.
Complement Therapeutics GmbH raised €72 million (US$79.4 million) in a series A round to move into the clinic a novel gene therapy for treating geographic atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration. It’s the largest series A round completed in Europe so far this year.
The granting of breakthrough device designation from the U.S. FDA to Pixium Vision SA for its Prima system was a boon for the company as its share price jumped more than 300% following the news. The price increase was “validation from the public market and investors” that the Prima system, for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), has the potential to get regulatory approval, Lloyd Diamond, CEO of Pixium, told BioWorld.
Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc. is eyeing the start of clinical trials with reactive aldehyde species (RASP) modulators ADX-246 for systemic immune-mediated diseases and ADX-248 for geographic atrophy.
After a delay in November that resulted in a new PDUFA date, Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Syfovre (pegcetacoplan injection) received U.S. FDA approval for treating geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration. While this is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for GA, there is competition afoot from Belite Bio Inc. and Iveric Bio Inc. The intravitreal targeted C3 therapy’s Feb. 17 approval of the priority NDA came more than a week ahead of its Feb. 26 PDUFA.
Akari Therapeutics plc has advanced its preclinical development program for long-acting PAS-nomacopan for geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The company has produced new and promising versions and progressed from lab scale to pre-GMP optimization, and is targeting an IND application to the FDA in the first half of next year.
Aviceda Therapeutics LLC has completed IND-enabling good laboratory practice (GLP) toxicity studies of its lead ophthalmic drug candidate, AVD-104, in nonhuman primates and rabbits.
