LONDON – Bridgebio Inc. has made a huge turn on the initial $65 million it invested in 2018 to acquire rights to infigratinib from Novartis AG, sealing a $2 billion commercialization deal with Swiss oncology specialist Helsinn Group for the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor just four years later. Helsinn will work with Bridgebio affiliate QED Therapeutics Inc. on U.S. co-commercialization of infigratinib in oncology and all other indications apart from skeletal dysplasias, with profits and losses shared on a 50-50 basis.

Bridgene Biosciences Inc., a company using an in-house chemoproteomic platform to find and develop small molecules for hard-to-drug targets, has signed its first major pharma partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. for an undisclosed up-front payment.

Biopharma deal values in 2021 are already tracking about 12% ahead of this time last year, while M&A values have declined by 57%.

Small-molecule mRNA translation expert Anima Biotech Inc. has landed a significant new preclinical research deal with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., covering as many as six programs for genetically defined neurological diseases. The deal starts with $120 million in up-front and preclinical research milestone payments for Anima, but altogether the two-part collaboration could hold as much as $2.3 billion in clinical and commercial milestone payouts for the company, providing substantial support for its internal pipeline, Anima co-founder and CEO Yochi Slonim told BioWorld.

A new multilateral working group could bring deeper scrutiny to biopharma mergers, both past and future. The group, made up of competition experts from Canada, the EU, U.K. and U.S., is taking on the job of identifying fresh approaches to analyze and address the competitive concerns raised by biopharma M&As.

Intec Pharma Ltd. is merging with privately held Decoy Biosystems Inc. and the combined company will continue advancing Decoy’s immunotherapy technology for treating a variety of tumors and chronic viral infections.