PARIS – Mauna Kea Technologies SA, of Paris, is welcoming a major shareholder on board. The company, which developed Cellvizio optical biopsy technology for tissue imaging directly at the cellular level, reported an increase in share capital for the benefit of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JJDC Inc. The venture capital arm of J&J has invested $8.3 million by subscribing to 5,357,142 new shares at a unit price of $1.56.

DUBLIN – Last year was yet another banner year for European biotechnology firms engaged in drug development. The sector took in $7.739 billion in equity funding in 2019, just edging past the previous high of $7.715 billion it reached in 2018. The second half of the year was a marked improvement on the first half, but that was linked to the timing of a couple of large-scale transactions.

For biopharma, 2019 can be described as a terrific year – with a few asterisks. The financial markets were flourishing, with venture capital dollars, in particular, flowing to the sector, while dealmaking reached historic proportions. Meanwhile, scientific breakthroughs led the way as cell and gene therapies gained ground, the first signs of success emerged with new technologies like CRISPR and the long-awaited promise of genomics found its way to the front lines of health care.