Genomic testing firm Veracyte Inc., of South San Francisco, has inked a definitive agreement with Seattle-based Nanostring Technologies Inc. for the global rights to Nanostring’s Ncounter platform. The deal – for $50 million in cash and Veracyte stock, plus up to $10 million in potential milestone payments – will allow Veracyte to develop and commercialize diagnostic tests on Nanostring’s Ncounter Flex system.

HONG KONG – South Korean company Alteogen Inc. signed a nonexclusive global license agreement with a top 10 global pharmaceutical company for its recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme, ALT-B4, in exchange for an up-front payment of $13 million. It is also eligible to receive additional payments of up to $1.37 billion tied to the achievement of development, regulatory approval and sales milestones. While the undisclosed big pharma will secure the global rights to develop and commercialize multiple products in combination with the Hybrozyme technology, Alteogen will be responsible for the clinical and commercial supply of ALT-B4 materials.

Audentes Therapeutics Inc. CEO Matthew Patterson early last month characterized results with lead compound AT-132 in X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM) as “unprecedented in neuromuscular disease,” and the value apparently wasn’t lost on Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., which signed a deal worth about $3 billion to take over the company. Shares of Audentes (NASDAQ:BOLD) closed at $58.93, up $30.32, or 106%, on word of the buyout – which pairs the two firms’ gene therapy expertise and is slated to close in the first quarter of next year – at a cost of $60 per share in cash.

Stem cell biotech firm Novoheart Holdings Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, is partnering with Astrazeneca plc, of Cambridge, U.K., to co-develop a human-specific in vitro, functional model of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), also known as diastolic heart failure, accounts for roughly half of all heart failure cases worldwide. The condition, which occurs when the ventricles do not relax as they fill with blood following heart muscle contractions, is especially common in elderly women, striking up to 10% of those over 80 years old. Now stem cell biotech firm Novoheart Holdings Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, is partnering with Astrazeneca plc, of Cambridge, U.K., to co-develop a human-specific in vitro, functional model of HFpEF. The goal is to give drug researchers critical clues of a drug candidate’s efficacy before it is tested in patients.