Avertix Medical Inc. signed a definitive merger agreement with Bios Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a deal that will take the company public on the Nasdaq. The deal will establish the combined entity, which will continue under the Avertix name and trade as AVRT, with an estimated enterprise value of $195 million. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of the year.
Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. (CBMG) licensed a pair of candidates for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma to Janssen Biotech Inc. for development outside of greater China. The candidates are anti-CD19 and CD20 bispecific CAR T-cell therapy C-CAR039 and anti-CD20 CAR T-cell therapy C-CAR066.
Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has out-licensed its phase I-ready autoimmune disease candidate, DWP-213388, to new spinout company Vitalli Bio in a deal worth up to $477 million.
Astellas Pharma Inc. announced it plans to acquire Iveric Bio Inc. in an all-cash deal in which it will pay $40 per Iveric share for a total equity value of roughly $5.9 billion. “Iveric Bio has promising programs including avacincaptad pegol (Zimura), an important program for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, and capabilities across the entire value chain in the ophthalmology field,” said Naoki Okamura, Astellas’ president and CEO.
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the research arm of Northwell Health, landed a $3.4 million grant from the Wellcome Trust to evaluate the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for schizophrenia. Feinstein will undertake a five-year, double-blind, randomized trial to see whether rTMS improves cognitive or other symptoms of schizophrenia. The technology currently has FDA approval for use in individuals with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
A mid-stage prospect for Pompe disease (PD) – this one from Maze Therapeutics Inc. – caught the eye of Sanofi SA, and the pair signed a potential $750 million deal to move along the oral glycogen synthase (GYS1) inhibitor MZE-001, a substrate reduction therapy.
Astellas Pharma Inc. announced it plans to acquire Iveric Bio Inc. in an all-cash deal in which it will pay $40 per Iveric share for a total equity value of roughly $5.9 billion. “Iveric Bio has promising programs including avacincaptad pegol (Zimura), an important program for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, and capabilities across the entire value chain in the ophthalmology field,” said Naoki Okamura, Astellas’ president and CEO.
Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has out-licensed its phase I-ready autoimmune disease candidate, DWP-213388, to new spinout company Vitalli Bio in a deal worth up to $477 million.
Despite a strong 2022 for both med-tech deals and M&As, the industry lost ground with both types of transactions in the first quarter of 2023, with deal values falling 32% and M&A values dropping 83%, in comparison with the first quarter of last year.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. evidently found what it was looking for, as it agreed to acquire Haystack Oncology Inc. in an all-cash deal valued at up to $450 million with $300 million at closing and $150 million contingent on meeting specific milestones. Haystack focuses on minimal residual disease (MRD) testing, which can detect residual or recurring cancer in its early stages and help guide therapy decisions using blood samples rather than biopsied tissue. The companies expect the transaction to close before the end of June.
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