PERTH, Australia –Digital diagnostics company Ellume Ltd. announced a US$231.8 million agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to accelerate domestic U.S. production of its COVID-19 home tests. The agreement includes funding to support the establishment of Ellume’s U.S.-based manufacturing facility and the delivery of 8.5 million COVID-19 home tests that will be distributed across the U.S.
Seeking to accelerate the company's long-term growth through an expansion of its rare disease pipeline, Horizon Therapeutics plc said Feb. 1 it will buy Viela Bio Inc. for $3.05 billion, or $53 per share (NASDAQ:VIE). Once closed, the deal would add a new commercial-stage asset, Uplizna (inebilizumab), to Horizon's portfolio alongside its current lead products, Tepezza (teprotumumab) for the treatment of thyroid eye disease and Krystexxa (pegloticase) for uncontrolled gout. Dublin-based Horizon, which had $2.08 billion in cash at the end of 2020, borrowed $1.3 billion to help finance the transaction. Astrazeneca plc also enabled the deal by agreeing to divest its 26.7% share in Viela Bio for a profit of between $760 million and $780 million.
Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. could receive an aggregate $1.1 billion from Coherus Biosciences Inc. for the rights to develop and commercialize Junshi’s anti-PD-1 antibody toripalimab in the U.S. and Canada. The deal is powered by Coherus’ core biosimilar business and is designed to steer the company into the business of immuno-oncology.
In a move that will enable both a broadening of its portfolio and a strengthening of its IP position, Neubase Therapeutics Inc. has acquired technology from Vera Therapeutics Inc. for creating peptide-nucleic acid scaffolds. The deal will extend the ability of Neubase's Patrol platform, a tool for addressing the causal mechanism of genetic disease, to directly modulate the human genome to resolve both rare and common diseases, including cancers, the company said.
Innate Pharma SA’s unexpected return to partner Astrazeneca plc all rights, in the U.S. and EU, to Lumoxiti (moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk) for hairy cell leukemia likely triggered unease in at least some investors.
HONG KONG – Osaka, Japan-based Shionogi & Co. Ltd. has inked a license agreement with Bioage Labs Inc. that sets the stage for the Richmond, Calif.-based startup to test asapiprant, originally developed for allergic rhinitis, for the treatment of COVID-19 and age-related declines in immune function.
Little more than half-a-year after closing its $78 million series A financing, Artiva Biotherapeutics Inc. has inked a new global licensing deal with Merck & Co. Inc. to develop up to three natural killer (NK) cell therapies engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) against tumor-associated antigens of its choosing. Merck will pay Artiva $30 million up front for two initial programs, plus $15 million more should it opt into the third. Each program carries $612 million in potential development and commercial milestone payments. With unfettered success, total deal value could hit $1.88 billion, plus royalties.
HONG KONG – Irvine, Calif.-based Trigr Therapeutics Inc. has signed an exclusive licensing deal with Shanghai-based Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., known as Kewang in China. The two companies will develop and commercialize TR-009 in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
TORONTO – Pointclickcare Technologies Inc. has followed up a series of private sector investments and purchases with its acquisition of Collective Medical Inc. and its real‐time notification platform for streamlining transitions from one stage of health care to another and reducing unnecessary length of stay and patient admissions. One of this country’s largest software companies, Pointclickcare said the US$500 million plus acquisition will pair its “rich, post‐acute data set” with Collective Medical’s network of more than 1,300 hospitals and other health care organizations across 39 states.
Boston Scientific Corp. has agreed to acquire Preventice Solutions Inc. for $925 million up front and up to an additional $300 million in a potential commercial milestone payment. The former has been an investor in Preventice since 2015 and currently holds an equity stake of about 22%, which is expected to result in a net payment of about $720 million upon closing and a milestone payment of up to roughly $230 million. The acquisition is projected to close by the middle of the year.
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