Six months after a merger deal fell through, leaving the company to face possible bankruptcy, Therapeuticsmd Inc. agreed to license U.S. commercialization rights for its women’s health care products to Australian firm Mayne Pharma Group Ltd. in exchange for $140 million up front plus milestone and royalty payments.

Full-Life Technologies Ltd. reported that it will acquire Focus-X Therapeutics Inc. to expand its radiopharmaceutical oncology therapy pipeline in a deal worth up to $245 million.

Integra Lifesciences Holding Corp. agreed to acquire Surgical Innovation Associates Inc. (SIA) in a deal that could be worth $140 million, the companies reported. Integra will pay $50 million on closing, expected by the end of the year. The company will pay an additional $90 million contingent on achievement of certain revenue and regulatory milestones through 2026.

Ryvu Therapeutics SA is banking €40 million (US$41.3 million) as an initial payment from a two-pronged alliance with Biontech SE, which involves a multitarget small-molecule research collaboration in immunotherapy and a license agreement for Ryvu’s portfolio of Sting agonists.

Horizon Therapeutics plc shares (NASDAQ:HZNP) jumped 27.3% to $100.29 after the company disclosed being in "highly preliminary" discussions about takeover interests expressed by Amgen Inc., Janssen Global Services LLC and Sanofi SA. The companies have until Jan. 10, 2023, to report whether they intend to make an offer or not.

While other large med-tech companies are slimming their portfolios, Boston Scientific Corp. plans to beef its up considerably with the acquisition of Apollo Endosurgery Inc. for $10 per share for the 41.7 million shares outstanding or $417 million. Including the debt assumed, the all-cash deal has an enterprise value of $615 million. The $10 per share price represents a 67% premium to the Nov. 28, 2022, $6 close for Apollo shares. The companies expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2023.

Astrazeneca plc is beefing up its cell therapy capabilities in immuno-oncology by acquiring Neogene Therapeutics BV for an initial outlay of $200 million. There’s up to $120 million more on the table for undisclosed milestones and what the companies called a “non-contingent consideration.” Even without the additional earnouts, the deal represents a profitable return for Neogene’s shareholders. The Amsterdam-based firm had raised $110 million in a series A round in 2020, which represented the largest A round in Europe that year. Since then, it has started to move its first program, an autologous engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) T-cell therapy directed against up to five neoantigens, toward a phase I trial in patients with solid tumors.

As IPOs have slowed significantly in 2022, so have the debuts of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) targeting the life sciences industry, primarily due to two looming threats. This time a year ago, BioWorld had tracked 60 IPOs of SPACs searching for biopharma or med-tech targets and nearly 30 SPACs that had secured acquisitions. For 2022, there are 21 SPACs currently searching, and only two of those went public this year. As for completed M&As involving SPACs, there have been 17 this year and another nine that are pending.

Tenacia Biotechnology Co. Ltd. has acquired exclusive greater China rights to certain formulations of Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s seizure therapy, ganaxolone (Ztalmy), in a deal worth up to $266 million. Under the terms, Shanghai-based Tenacia now has the rights to develop and commercialize current oral and intravenous dose formulations of ganaxolone in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. It also gained the right to the first negotiation for a new formulation of the drug in the future.