DUBLIN – Roche Holding AG has joined Jnana Therapeutics Inc. in its quest to drug the human repertoire of solute carrier (SLC) metabolite transporters as a means of tackling a swath of immune-mediated and neurological diseases. The Basel, Switzerland-based pharma is paying Boston-based Jnana $40 million up front and could pay over $1 billion more in research funding, preclinical, development and commercial milestones, as well as sales royalties, in a multitarget deal.
HONG KONG – Tokyo-based Terumo Corp. has snapped up Dutch health care startup Quirem Medical BV, which develops selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) microspheres to treat liver cancer.
The two-year standstill provision in Assembly Biosciences Inc.’s potential $540 million pact with Beigene Ltd. to advance hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapies was “highly negotiated,” said Jason Okazaki, Assembly’s chief legal and business officer.
LONDON – Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) is putting £130 million (US$164.3 million) into one of the leading COVID-19 vaccines developers, Curevac AG, acquiring a 10% stake, and will also invest £104 million cash up front to fund research and development of the company’s mRNA vaccines.
While med-tech dealmaking in the second quarter of 2020 increased by 27% from the first quarter and is in line with the values disclosed during the same period in 2019, M&A money for the industry has fallen significantly.
Novocure Ltd. and Merck & Co. Inc. will work together to test the use of electric fields at specific frequencies in combination with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to treat non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The pair plan to start a phase II pilot study during the second half of Novocure’s Tumor Treating Fields in combination with Keytruda as a first-line treatment for intrathoracic advanced or metastatic, PD-L1 positive NSCLC.
Medtronic plc said Wednesday it will purchase Medicrea Group, a French manufacturer of patient-specific 3D printed spinal implants, in a step to further strengthen its spine surgery business. The friendly, all-cash offer is priced at €7 (US$7.98) for each Medicrea share, a 22% over its July 14 closing price. The total value of the deal is approximately €200 million (about US$228 million), which includes roughly €50 million in net cash and liabilities plus about €150 million in equity. Medtronic expects to close the deal by the end of the year, pending regulatory nods in France and the U.S.
BEIJING – U.S.-Taiwan biotech Acepodia Inc., of Burlingame, Calif., and Taipei, has licensed out two of its cell therapy candidates, ACE-1702 and ACE-1655, to Chinese CAR T therapy developer JW Therapeutics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. to develop and commercialize them in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Acepodia will receive up-front and milestone payments from JW Therapeutics, plus royalties on sales.
Cytokinetics Inc.’s new deal with RTW Investments gives the company a new presence in Asia and a strong influx of cash that should last at least two or three years.
HONG KONG – Zai Lab Ltd. inked a deal to develop and commercialize Turning Point Therapeutics Inc.’s lead drug candidate, repotrectinib, in the greater China markets.
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