HONG KONG – Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and India’s Biological E Ltd. are collaborating to develop and deliver affordable combination vaccines. Under two licensing agreements, Takeda will transfer its measles and acellular pertussis vaccine technologies to Biological E, which will commercialize them in other markets.

Trovagene Inc., of San Diego, said it entered a securities purchase agreement with certain accredited investors to buy about 6.2 million shares and warrants to purchase up to an additional 4.6 million shares of its common stock for approximately $7.1 million in a registered direct offering.

Emergent Biosolutions Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., is buying Paris-based Sanofi SA’s ACAM-2000 business for $97.5 million up front and up to $27.5 million in near-term contingent regulatory and manufacturing-related milestones.

LONDON – A growing body of in vitro, animal and more recently clinical research, is pointing to the potential for tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), which have established their therapeutic value in cancer, to be repurposed as treatments for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Two years after its formation by Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Akcea Therapeutics Inc. planted its own flag on the public markets, opening Friday as AKCA on Nasdaq. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company raised $125 million in its IPO by offering 15.625 million common shares – up from its expected offering of 9.62 million shares – at $8, below its intended range of $12 to $14.

Fanconi anemia is a genetic disorder that leads to bone marrow failure, and also predisposes individuals to developing certain types of cancer. Fanconi anemia is caused by mutations in DNA repair genes, though it does not map neatly onto a particular DNA repair pathway.

Despite struggling with extrapolation, the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) unanimously supported approval of two biosimilars referencing Roche Holding AG's Avastin and Herceptin.

Mayo Clinic is expanding its clinical territory into drug discovery and development for the first time by partnering with artificial intelligence (AI) firm Nference to create Qrativ. Virtual for now, the startup plans to forge collaborations with third parties and to in-license drug candidates – either way, applying a data-driven approach that combines a range of AI techniques.

The decision by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to use a priority review voucher for the submission of the biologics license application for guselkumab apparently paid off. The drug, branded Tremfya, gained FDA approval late Thursday, four months prior to its estimated PDUFA date of Nov. 17.