DUBLIN – Silence Therapeutics plc has entered the Chinese market through a partnering deal with Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. that involves developing short interfering RNA (siRNA) drugs against three undisclosed targets.
The Scottish government has signed a deal with digital therapeutics company Big Health Inc. to make a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) platform for anxiety and insomnia available through the NHS. It makes Scotland the first country to provide a digital therapeutic for anxiety and insomnia nationally.
The speed at which the med-tech industry is completing mergers and acquisitions in 2021 is something quite contrary to the typical slowdown seen when the financing window is open wide. But yet, a total of 477 M&As valued at $109.18 billion have closed in the first three quarters this year, more in volume and value than for each of the previous three years, and during what appears to be the second best year on record for financings. The sector has already raised $42 billion. On the other hand, the lack of disclosed terms continues to weigh heavy on deals, making them appear on paper to be significantly below recent years, down by about 73% in comparison with 2020’s first three quarters. Importantly, though, numbers of completed deals for every quarter and for the combined nine months are at their highest levels ever.
LONDON – Intellia Therapeutics Inc. is to receive 10% of the equity in Sparingvision SAS as part of a deal giving the French ophthalmology specialist certain exclusive rights to in vivo CRISPR/Cas9 technologies in the treatment of ocular diseases.
A pan-cancer liquid biopsy solution that was developed by Twist Bioscience Corp. and Anchordx Medical Co. Ltd. has been launched globally. The companies will market the Twist Alliance Pan-Cancer Methylation Panel (Pan-Cancer Panel) jointly. The Pan-Cancer Panel is a solution for pan-cancer study including DNA methylation library preparation and targeted enrichment for next-generation sequencing (NGS).
In its first big pharma deal since it was founded around a cell programming technology in 2009, Immusoft Corp. signed Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to a research collaboration and license option targeting rare inherited metabolic disorders. The agreement brings an undisclosed up-front fee and research funding to Immusoft, which is also eligible to earn more than $900 million if all options are exercised and all milestones hit.
In a deal that could be worth more than $450 million, Olix Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. have agreed to discover, develop, and commercialize siRNA therapeutics for various liver-based targets implicated in cardiovascular, metabolic, and other indications.
With a growing number of deals worth $1 billion or more, 2021 values are slowly inching past 2020’s record year, as mergers and acquisitions also move higher, indicating a potentially stronger second half of the year.
Tracon Pharmaceuticals Inc. tapped Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s wholly owned subsidiary, Eucure Biopharma Co. Ltd., for U.S. rights to CTLA4 antibody YH-001, which it plans to use in immunotherapy studies in combination with its PD-L1 inhibitor.
Dublin – Shares in Combigene AB, a little-known Swedish gene therapy firm, surged upward by 172% Oct. 12 on news of a preclinical licensing deal in epilepsy with Spark Therapeutics, which is potentially worth $328.5 million.
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