Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.’s chief business development and strategy officer, Kyle Gano, said “there was really no playbook” for the deal in which his firm is paying Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. $120 million up front for an exclusive license to seven programs, including three clinical-stage assets targeting the notoriously difficult indications of schizophrenia and treatment-resistant depression (TRD), as well as depression-related anhedonia.

Royalty deals by an investor into a particular pharmaceutical company program are not unheard of. This structure allows the investor to secure a portion of that specific anticipated upside, while enabling the pharma to fully fund R&D for that program without having to sacrifice other priorities to do so.

HONG KONG – Korea’s Celltrion Inc. aims to wrap up its first major M&A deal with Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Inc. by the end of 2020, pending approvals.

LONDON - The EU has secured a supply of the most advanced COVID-19 vaccine in development, in a deal with Astrazeneca plc for up to 400 million doses of AZD-1222, with deliveries starting by the end of 2020.

Now that Roche Holding AG has digested its Foundation Medicine and Flatiron acquisitions from a few years ago, it has looked to add more digital capabilities in a couple of recent deals. The earlier big-ticket tie-ups by the Basel, Switzerland-based pharma added genomic and real-world data analytics to deepen the knowledge driving Roche’s R&D efforts, particularly in oncology.

In a bid to expand its presence in the cardiometabolic disease space and strengthen its core business in diabetes and obesity, Novo Nordisk A/S is buying Corvidia Therapeutics Inc., of Waltham, Mass., for $2.1 billion, which includes a $725 million up-front payment.

Dead cancer cells in the body are thought to help trigger an active immune response in oncology patients, particularly in combination with immunotherapy drugs. Some technologies, such as radiation and laser therapy, that kill cancer cells are being investigated for use in combination with immunotherapies. Well-regarded oncology specialist The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has partnered with Rakuten Medical Inc. to further advance one such technology, the latter’s photoimmunotherapy platform Illuminox.

DUBLIN – Shares in Genmab A/S gained 5% during trading on Nasdaq June 10 on news of an oncology alliance with Abbvie Inc., in which it is banking $750 million up front and up to $3.15 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones for up to seven next-generation antibody-based therapeutics.