Financings

Akcea Therapeutics Inc. closed its IPO for gross proceeds of $143.8 million.

Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc. closed its public offering for net proceeds of about $161.5 million.

Amicus Therapeutics Inc. closed its offering with gross proceeds expected to be $258.8 million.

Aspyrian Therapeutics Inc. closed on $15.1 million as part of a series B-1 financing round, which is expected to reach about $19 million.

Clarus Ventures closed Clarus IV LP, which topped its $750 million goal by attracting $910 million in assets.

Contrafect Corp. priced its underwritten public offering for gross proceeds of $40 million.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. priced an underwritten public offering for gross proceeds of $75 million.

Kala Pharmaceuticals Inc. priced its IPO of 6 million shares of its common stock at $15 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $90 million.

Menlo Therapeutics Inc. completed a $50 million series C round.

Neurovia Inc. closed a series A financing round of $14 million.

Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc. has filed its form S-1A setting terms for its IPO to sell 4.33 million shares of common stock priced between $14 and $16 per share.

Strongbridge Biopharma plc entered a $50 million senior credit facility with CRG LP to retire its existing debt facility and provide additional capital for the company.

Trevi Therapeutics Inc. has completed a $50.5 million series C financing round.

Deals

Ablynx NV entered an alliance with Sanofi SA focused on the development of up to eight multispecific nanobodies across a range of immune-mediated conditions.

Abzena plc signed a license agreement granting Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. an exclusive worldwide, royalty-bearing, sublicensable license to its prostate-specific membrane antigen antibodies in the field of radio-immunoconjugation.

Adimab LLC entered an agreement to transfer its Adimab platform to Eli Lilly and Co. for the discovery and optimization of antibody-based drugs in all therapeutic areas.

Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corp. is collaborating with the National Research Council of Canada to develop antibody-drug conjugates.

Amgen Inc. and Array Biopharma Inc. are collaborating on the discovery and development of drugs for autoimmune disorders.

Auris Medical Holding AG completed its acquisition of various assets related to intranasal betahistine from Otifex Therapeutics Ltd.

Emergent Biosolutions Inc. is buying Sanofi SA's ACAM-2000 business for $97.5 million up front and up to $27.5 million in near-term contingent regulatory and manufacturing-related milestones.

Grifols SA said it is acquiring a 43.96 percent stake in Gigagen Inc., which is developing antibody therapies derived from immune repertoires, for a cash investment of $35 million.

Marina Biotech Inc. entered an agreement licensing rights to Oncotelic Inc. for its Smarticles platform for the delivery of antisense DNA therapeutics.

Norgine BV said it closed the merger with Merus Labs International Inc. acquiring a portfolio of 12 products.

Oncology Venture AB and Novartis AG entered an agreement providing Oncology Venture with an option right to execute an exclusive license to develop and commercialize an undisclosed small-molecule kinase inhibitor in clinical development.

Oryzon Genomics SA is losing its partner for lead candidate ORY-1001 (RG-6016), after Roche Holding AG reprioritized its pipeline and abandoned development of the lysine specific demethylase-1 inhibitor.

Philogen SpA signed a collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH to discover and optimize small-molecule-based therapeutics using its Encoded Self-Assembling Chemical library technology platform.

Shire plc and Novimmune SA have entered an agreement granting Shire exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize a bispecific antibody in preclinical development for the treatment of hemophilia A and hemophilia A patients with inhibitors.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. entered an agreement to sell its Obagi Medical Products skincare business for $190 million in cash to Haitong International Zhonghua Finance Acquisition Fund I LP.

. . . And More

Puma Biotechnology Inc.'s breast cancer drug, Nerlynx (neratinib), won FDA approval, marking the first treatment designated as an extended adjuvant therapy in patients with early stage, HER2-positive disease.

Sangamo Therapeutics Inc. said the FDA granted fast track designation to SB-318 and SB-913, its in vivo genome editing product candidates for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) and MPS II, respectively.

The U.K. government announced an £86 million (US$112.3 million) funding package to promote the uptake of digital health and other novel technologies, as the first step in taking forward the Accelerated Access Review, an independent report that made 18 recommendations to promote a step change in the speed at which the National Health Service adopts innovation.

UCB SA and Amgen Inc. received a complete response letter from the FDA for their BLA for Evenity (romosozumab), which is in development for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.