Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. has acquired greater China rights to oncology candidate NKT-2152 from Nikang Therapeutics Inc. in a deal worth up to $218 million. Jiangsu, China-based Hansoh picked up exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the candidate in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. In turn, Nikang is eligible to receive $15 million up-front cash payment, as well as up to $203 million in potential development, regulatory and sales-based milestone payments, and tiered royalties.
Privately held Amphista Therapeutics Ltd. has cut massive deals with two biopharma giants, Merck KGaA and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS), that together could bring the company up to $2.25 billion. The companies will use Amphista’s Eclipsys platform to generate protein degrader-based therapeutics. Merck is looking to discover and develop small-molecule protein degraders for treating cancer and immune disease. Indications in the BMS deal were not announced.
Ashvattha Therapeutics Inc. secured $69 million in a series B financing that it said will strengthen its ability to develop hydroxyl dendrimer-based medicines and accelerate efforts to advance its candidates to the clinic.
Xbiome Inc. acquired M-201, a clinical-stage program from Assembly Biosciences Inc., to treat patients with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis as it looks to develop products to address the growing incidence of bowel disease throughout Asia. The company expects to start a phase Ib trial of the oral live biotherapeutic product in the U.S. in 2022 and also plans to run clinical trials in China.
Dragonfly Therapeutics Inc. added Gilead Sciences Inc. to its roster of partnerships in a deal that gives the Waltham, Mass.-based company $300 million up front, with opt-in payments, milestones and up to 20% royalties down the road. In exchange Foster City, Calif.-based Gilead gets exclusive, worldwide rights to DF-7001, a preclinical-stage immunotherapy, as well as rights to additional NK cell engager programs generated by Dragonfly’s TriNKET (Trispecific NK Engager) platform.
Acutus Medical Inc. is selling its left-heart access portfolio to Medtronic plc in a deal worth upwards of $50 million. The portfolio of devices includes a line of sheath-compatible septal crossing devices and steerable sheaths. Under the terms of the agreement, Medtronic will make an upfront cash payment to Acutus of $50 million and additional undisclosed payments based on milestones and future sales.
Targeted protein degradation (TPD) specialist Plexium Inc.’s potential $565 million deal with Abbvie Inc. came on the heels of a tie-up with Amgen Inc. in February worth as much as $500 million-plus, as well as an oversubscribed $102 million financing the same month – all of which translates into “optionality, moving forward, to keep our heads down, do the work we’re really good at and continue to watch the market,” said CEO Percival Barretto-Ko.
Cochlear Ltd. will acquire Danish hearing implant company Oticon Medical A/S for AU$170 million (US$121 million) after parent company the Demant Group said it planned to exit its hearing implants business. Cochlear CEO Dig Howitt said that Oticon Medical is expected to add AU$75 to AU$80 million to Sydney-based Cochlear’s annual revenue, although Oticon Medical is currently “loss making.” In 2021, Demant’s hearing Implants saw revenue of $73 million.
Shares in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. rose sharply after Pfizer Inc. invested $25 million and struck a deal to catalyze development of the company’s WEE1 inhibitor ZN-c3, an oral drug designed to make cancer cells self-destruct.
Ashvattha Therapeutics Inc. secured $69 million in a series B financing that it said will strengthen its ability to develop hydroxyl dendrimer-based medicines and accelerate efforts to advance its candidates to the clinic.
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