An earlier lucrative licensing deal with Genentech Inc. helped Swiss biotech NovImmune SA to secure an additional $20.6 million Series B financing. The Genentech deal for rights to NovImmune's anti-Interleukin-17 (IL-17) antibody program, finalized in July, provided enough external validation to draw the interest of lead investor BZ Bank Aktiengesellschaft. The funds will be used to develop proof-of-concept data on two of NovImmune's compounds and complete validation of its antibody platform.
Ramius V&O Acquisition LLC and Royalty Pharma, of New York, will acquire Cypress Bioscience Inc., of San Diego, in an all-cash transaction worth approximately $255 million.
Tesaro Inc. has acquired rights to nausea drug rolapitant and one other drug from OPKO Health Inc. for $121 million Including milestones, double-digit, tiered royalties and a 10 percent equity position in Tesaro. Rolapitant was a Schering-Plough Corp. property, but OPKO nabbed it for just $2 million up front following Schering's 2009 merger with Merck and Co. Inc.
Aspire Capital Fund LLC agreed to purchase 333,333 shares of International Stem Cell Corp. (ISCO) at $1.50 per share, a 7 percent premium over Friday's closing price of $1.40. In addition, the agreement includes a financing facility that will allow Aspire to purchase up to a total of $25 million in equity capital over the next three years, at the discretion of ISCO.
Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals Inc. will undergo a corporate reorganization under a Chapter 11 filing pursuant to a $45 million financing commitment from Savitr Capital LLC.
Some potential protein drug targets, such as transcription factors, are difficult to study well in a high-density screening situation. Many transcription factors flop around like wet noodles with little organized structure, and are regarded as "undruggable" by many pharma companies.
Cephalon Inc. is betting that its short-term $350 million investment in stem cell technology will help to plug a much more expensive hole with the April 2012 patent expiration of its sleep disorder drug Provigil.
