EDINBURGH, Scotland – A 10-year plan to create an integrated translational medicine hub in the heart of Edinburgh is beginning to bear fruit, with the first spinouts starting to emerge from the research base and take up residence in a new bioincubator, which opens next week.

Shares in NicOx SA surged almost 35 percent last week on news that the company had taken its first concrete step toward becoming a late-stage development and commercial player in opthalmology by entering a cash-and-shares acquisition agreement with Altacor Ltd. that could be worth as much as £19.5 million (US$30.9 million).

Switzerland's Cytos Biotechnology Ltd. stepped away from the ledge of a financial precipice last week and rescued its lead immunodrug candidate CYT003-QbG10 by forging agreements with a syndicate of international investors to raise up to CHF37 million (US$40.6 million) in equity and debt.

LONDON – A novel method of identifying molecules crucial to the survival of cancer cells has pinpointed an enzyme in prostate cancer cells that, when blocked, kills the cells.

LONDON – Spring has arrived on cue for European biotech with the launch of a new €150 million (US$199 million) venture capital fund from Index Ventures – with backing and active involvement from two pharma partners, GlaxoSmithKline plc and Johnson & Johnson – to specialize in investing in early stage companies.

Start-up firm ADC Therapeutics Sarl has secured funding commitments of up to $50 million to take forward 10 antibody-drug conjugate programs in oncology, based on conjugate and linker chemistry developed by London-based Spirogen Ltd.

• Convergence Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, initiated a Phase II proof-of-concept study of CNV1014802 in pain associated with trigeminal neuralgia (TN). CNV1014802 is a small-molecule, state-dependent sodium channel blocker that exhibits potency and selectivity against the Nav1.7 sodium channel.

While other drugmakers are spending billions of dollars in pursuit of the next-generation hepatitis C treatment, Okairos AG is on a quest for the holy grail – a preventive hepatitis C virus (HCV) vaccine.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Innovation Fund Ireland, the Irish government's initiative to bring top-tier international venture capital funds to Ireland, has landed its first biotechnology investor. Sofinnova Ventures is setting up an office in Dublin and is receiving commitments totaling $37.5 million from the country's public purse.

LONDON – Heptares Therapeutics Ltd. said the starting gun has been fired on a $190 million-plus-royalties deal, after Shire plc decided to take up its option on an A2A antagonist discovered by Heptares.