DUBLIN – Versant Ventures notched up another result with its build-to-buy model of backing cutting-edge translational science, as Roche Holding AG triggered an option to acquire Inception 5, an early stage venture focused on the discovery of small molecules that promote remyelination of damaged neurons in multiple sclerosis. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Versant is backing the same leadership in a new start-up, Pipeline Therapeutics Inc., to continue drug discovery work on the broader theme of identifying small molecule therapeutics for a range of neuroregenerative applications, such as hearing loss, neuropathic pain and Alzheimer's disease.
DUBLIN – Sofinnova Partners has raised €275 million (US$339 million) for a new health care crossover fund, Sofinnova Crossover I, which will fund late-stage biotechnology and medical device firms that have proof-of-concept data in hand and have an eye on a Nasdaq listing within 12 to 18 months.
DUBLIN – Shares in Dublin-based Shire plc rose as much as 26 percent last week on news of a possible bid from Osaka, Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Under U.K. takeover rules, Takeda is bound to make an offer by 5 p.m. U.K. time on April 25.
DUBLIN – Shares in Dublin-based Shire plc rose as much as 26 percent Wednesday on news of a possible bid from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Under U.K. takeover rules, Osaka, Japan-based Takeda is bound to make an offer by 5 p.m. U.K. time on April 25.
DUBLIN – Tempest Therapeutics Inc. raised $70 million in a series B round to progress four small-molecule drug development programs addressing different aspects of immunometabolism in the tumor microenvironment.
AMSTERDAM – Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG, an early stage German firm, is giving a new lease of life to an old European antisense technology which will soon lose patent protection. The Marburg-based firm was formed in 2015, but has flown under the radar until recently. It was among the young contenders setting out their stall at the recent BIO-Europe Spring meeting.
DUBLIN – H. Lundbeck A/S is acquiring Prexton Therapeutics Ltd. for €100 million up front (US$123 million) and up to €805 million more in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, in a deal that gives it ownership of foliglurax (PXT-002331), a first-in-class metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 (mGluR4) agonist currently undergoing a phase II trial as adjunct therapy in Parkinson's disease.
AMSTERDAM – Europe's famously fragmented system – or systems – for pricing and reimbursement will lose a few rough edges in the years ahead, as coordinated clinical assessment of product dossiers becomes the norm for all therapeutic products that are currently subject to the EMA's centralized market authorization process.
AMSTERDAM – Scientist Jeroen Raes was a latecomer to an early morning panel on "nutrition, lifestyle and medicines in the patient's journey," which kicked off day two of BIO-Europe Spring. But his arrival injected a hefty dose of realism – and expertise – into a discussion of an area that has attracted large quantities of hype and cash but has yet to deliver any clinically useful products, never mind compelling clinical data.
AMSTERDAM – Dutch delegates to international biotech conferences routinely express their ebullient sense of identity by attaching their conference badges to their own orange-colored lanyards. Everyone is an honorary Amsterdammer for the duration of the 2018 BIO-Europe Spring meeting, which opened Monday at the RAI conference center in the southern quarter of the city.
