Mymd Pharmaceuticals Inc., the privately held developer of a synthetic derivative of tobacco alkaloids for the potential treatment of autoimmune diseases and age-related disorders, will soon list on Nasdaq via its acquisition of former point-of-care testing company Akers Biosciences Inc., shares of which (NASDAQ:AKER) climbed 29.1% to $2.22 on Nov. 12. The combined company, to be headquartered in Baltimore, will retain Mymd's name and adopt the trading symbol MYMD. Concurrent with the merger, Akers is raising $18 million in a private placement priced at-the-market.
DUBLIN – Affimed NV has found another taker for its tetravalent bispecific antibody-based innate cell engager (ICE) platform. Roivant Sciences GmbH is putting down $40 million in cash, plus another $20 million of its own stock, as part of a multiprogram alliance involving AFM-32 plus additional molecules directed at targets not currently addressed by Affimed’s pipeline. Some $2 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones are also attached to the deal.
DUBLIN – Vifor Pharma Group is paying $60 million, including $30 million up front and $30 million in equity investment, to secure rights to Angion Biomedica Corp.’s hepatocyte growth factor mimetic, ANG-3777, in all nephrology indications.
Fochon Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., out-licensed FCN-338, a BCL-2 inhibitor, to Eli Lilly and Co. for an up-front payment of $40 million along with milestones and royalties. The deal marks another example of Chinese biotech companies reversing the licensing flow.
In another multibillion-dollar bid to further strengthen its oncology pipeline, Merck & Co. Inc. is set to acquire privately held Velosbio Inc. for $2.75 billion in cash. Velosbio is developing cancer therapies targeting receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1. The company’s follow-on programs include next-generation antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific immune-engagers targeting ROR1, which it has been developing for nearly two years.
HONG KONG – Humanigen Inc. has executed its first licensing agreement in the Asia-Pacific region, in a deal worth up to $20 million that gives Telcon RF Pharmaceutical Inc. and KPM Tech Co. Ltd. the development and commercialization rights to lenzilumab for COVID-19 in South Korea and the Philippines.
PERTH, Australia – Melbourne-based Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has linked up with Hong Kong-listed China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Ltd. (CGP) in a licensing and commercial deal worth AU$400 million (US$285 million) plus sales royalties.
HONG KONG – Haihe Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has outsourced the China rights to its non-opioid analgesics candidates, RMX-1001 and RMX-1002, to 3D Biomedicine Science & Technology Co. Ltd. in the latest collaboration between the two companies.
DUBLIN – Kiadis Pharma BV has parlayed its €31.9 million (US$37.2 million) stock-based acquisition of Cytosen Therapeutics Inc. last year, which involved an initial outlay of just €14.5 million worth of shares, into a €308 million payday with Sanofi SA.
Ocular Therapeutix Inc. and Affamed Therapeutics Ltd. entered a license and collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize Dextenza and OTX-TIC in greater China, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations markets.