Livanova plc has inked an agreement with Gyrus Capital SA to divest its heart valve business. The sale has an enterprise value of €60 million (US$73 million) and is expected to wrap up in the first half of next year. The Livanova board has already given its unanimous assent for the deal. Livanova now expects to strengthen its focus on its neuromodulation and cardiovascular platforms.
LONDON – DNA damage repair (DDR) specialist Artios Pharma Ltd. has sealed a $860 million per target deal with Merck KGaA, around a series of small-molecule DNA nuclease inhibitors. The deal, for up to eight targets, will see Artios get $30 million in up-front and near-term milestones to take programs to the point at which Merck will decide on its option to take them in-house. For any products that make it to market, the $860 million in milestones along the way will be followed by double-digit royalties on sales. Subject to certain conditions, Cambridge-based Artios has rights to do joint development with Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck.
Frontier Medicines Corp. co-founder, chairman and CEO Chris Varma told BioWorld that his firm’s deal with Abbvie Inc. happened by way of a “highly competitive process, thankfully, with multiple parties at the table,” and the tie-up means money that could “well exceed” $1 billion.
HONG KONG and BEIJING – Hong Kong-listed China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Ltd. and Niel, Belgium-based mRNA vaccine specialist Etherna Immunotherapies NV are setting up a joint venture to develop, produce and commercialize mRNA prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.
PERTH, Australia – Melbourne-based Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is acquiring Scintec Diagnostics GmbH subsidiary Therapharm GmbH in a deal worth AU$33 million (US$24.24 million) plus royalties.
Zug, Switzerland-based Therapharm has developed a portfolio of radiolabeled diagnostic and therapeutic products, and the deal brings Telix a new targeting asset in hematology, Telix CEO Chris Behrenbruch told analysts during a Dec. 1 conference call.
If there are three takeaways from this year’s dealmaking efforts, they appear to be record-setting partnerships, lackluster M&As, and massive amounts of research funding via the U.S. government.
The whopper deal between Biogen Inc. and Sage Therapeutics Inc. – a global collaboration and licensing deal involving the latter’s zuranolone (also known as SAGE-217) for major depressive disorder (MDD), postpartum depression (PPD) and other psychiatric disorders, as well as SAGE-324 for essential tremor (ET) and neurological disorders – drew mixed reviews from Wall Street. And, for Biogen investors, the would-be Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapy aducanumab remains front of mind.
New artificial intelligence capabilities will be integrated into widely used genomic testing for breast cancer under a new partnership formed by Agendia Inc. and Paige.ai. The two companies are working together to enhance the genomic information from Agendia's Mammaprint and Blueprint diagnostic tests with AI-based digital diagnostics provided by Paige with the goal of redefining precision oncology.
HONG KONG – Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has signed an exclusive license agreement with Lung Therapeutics Inc., picking up the Japanese rights to Lung Tx’s LTI-01.
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