The €80 million (US$104.9 million) investment by dievini Hopp BioTech Holding GmbH & Co. KG in Tuebingen, Germany-based CureVac GmbH is not only its single biggest bet to date, but also a clear point of differentiation between itself and most other private investors in European biotechnology. (See story this issue.)

Taking advantage of a summer stock climb on the back of its allogeneic cell therapy pipeline, Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. is nearly doubling its cash position with a $32 million public offering.

• Biotie Therapies Corp., of Turku, Finland, registered 65.1 million new shares in a directed issue of shares to H. Lundbeck A/S, and to institutional and strategic investors.

CureVac GmbH closed what will in all likelihood go down as the largest private equity round in European biotechnology this year, an €80 million (US$104.9 million) investment from dievini Hopp BioTech Holding GmbH & Co. KG, which will enable it to take forward two mRNA-based therapeutic cancer vaccines, in clinical development for prostate cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Karus Therapeutics Ltd. banked $7.6 million, the first tranche of a Series B round that is intended to enable the company to take its two lead programs through human proof-of-concept studies.

With two key value inflection points approaching, Biotie Therapies Oy did some advance corporate housekeeping by adding €30 million (US$38.3 million) to its coffers, to strengthen its position for any upcoming licensing negotiations.

LONDON – Symphogen A/S has handed Merck KGaA worldwide exclusive rights to its Phase II cancer antibody product, Sym004, in a deal with a potential value of €500 million (US$631.6 million).

F2G Ltd., of Manchester, UK, will use a new $30 million equity financing round to jump a lead candidate from its F3 series of preclinical compounds into first-in-man studies.

• Compugen Ltd., of Tel Aviv, Israel, said mode-of-action studies on protein drug candidate CGEN-15001 demonstrated active suppression of pathogenic immune responses and reestablishment of immune balance by increasing anti-inflammatory mediators and promoting inducible regulatory T cells, considered a promising approach to treat autoimmune disease and cancer.

Shares in Summit plc gained 26 percent Tuesday on news of a collaboration agreement on the company's Seglin technology with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) that could be worth as much as $300 million in research, development and regulatory milestones.