DUBLIN – Shares in Neovacs SA plummeted more than 50 percent Tuesday on news that its lead immunotherapy treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), TNF-Kinoid, failed to show efficacy in a phase IIb trial in 140 patients.
DUBLIN – Buoyed by six initial public offerings and two trade sales from its fourth fund, Versant Ventures formally closed its fifth fund, Versant Venture Capital V LP, at $305 million, $55 million ahead of target, with a mission to focus on early and late-stage biotechnology opportunities on either side of the Atlantic.
LILLE, France – Big pharma's focus on early stage innovation is obviously good news for early stage innovators, particularly those who have managed to bring their projects through the valley of death, to the point where they have established technical proof of concept.
DUBLIN – Geneuro SA is getting $47 million in an up-front payment and research funding and could earn $408 million more in development and commercial milestones from a deal with Les Laboratoires Servier involving its first-in-class phase II multiple sclerosis (MS) antibody GNbAC1.
DUBLIN – Modern Biosciences plc (MBS) could earn up to £176 million (US$277 million) in up-front and milestone payments from an option and licensing deal with the Janssen Biotech Inc. arm of Johnson & Johnson that covers a series of preclinical bone-protective compounds in development for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and potentially other indications.
DUBLIN – Prosensa Holding NV hopped off the rollercoaster it's been traveling on for more than a year by agreeing to a cash acquisition deal with Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. worth about $680 million up front, with another $160 million to come in two near-term regulatory milestones.
DUBLIN – A 2.5 percent share price drop – or a €2.5 billion (US$3 billion) loss of value – is not the best way to begin a pipeline update. But amid continued uncertainty about the leadership situation at Sanofi Group, that was the hand its chairman and interim CEO, Serge Weinberg, had to play as the company set out its stall Thursday on a late-stage pipeline that it contended will deliver cumulative revenues of €30 billion over the first five years of sales.
Pfizer Inc. is turbocharging Merck KGaA's development of its programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor MSB0010718C in a global deal worth $850 million up front and about $2 billion more in regulatory and commercial milestones.
DUBLIN – Glionova AB, a Swedish start-up exploiting a novel mechanism of action in cancer, raised SEK42 million (US$5.7 million) in a series A round to take forward its lead drug, GLN-1001, which is in development for glioblastoma.
