DUBLIN – Medigene AG is banking $10 million up front and could earn up to $1 billion more in milestones from a multiproduct immuno-oncology alliance with Cytovant Sciences, a newly launched 'Vant that will develop cell therapies for cancer patients across East Asia. Read More
Entasis Therapeutics Holdings Inc. has initiated a phase III trial to evaluate ETX-2514 for treating patients in the U.S., Europe and Asia with pneumonia and bloodstream infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Read More
The timing of Cigna Corp.'s announcement Wednesday that it was capping out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for U.S. insulin prescriptions for some patients raised a few eyebrows on Capitol Hill. Read More
The top 100 public biopharmaceutical companies ranked by market cap, excluding big pharma companies, continued to ramp up their research and development investments last year, according to an analysis conducted by BioWorld Insight. Read More
PERTH, Australia – The Australian government's commitment of more than AU$1 billion (US$711 million) to support medical research in cancer and genomics sends the message to investors that the life sciences sector in Australia is sustainable, stakeholders said. Read More
HONG KONG – Hutchison China Meditech Ltd. (Chi-Med) has started a phase IIb/III study for its surufatinib candidate, HMPL-012, an oral small-molecule angio-immuno kinase inhibitor that can simultaneously block tumor angiogenesis and immune evasion. Read More
Healthquest Capital reported it closed a third round of funding at its hard cap of $440 million. The new money brings the total funds under management for the Belmont, Calif.-based health care investor to $785 million. Healthquest plans to invest the additional capital in 15 companies that are optimizing value in health care, according to Garheng Kong, Healthquest Capital's founder and managing partner. Read More
Gesynta Pharma AB, a Swedish startup leveraging research from Karolinska Institutet, has raised €6 million (US$6.7 million) to advance a drug for the treatment of microvascular diseases in chronic inflammatory conditions through an upcoming phase I study. The investment, from Industrifonden and a group of private life sciences investors, will help the company illuminate the potential of GS-248, an asset acquired from Sweden's Orexo AB for treatment of an undisclosed orphan disease. Read More
Tricida Inc., of South San Francisco, said it priced its public offering of 5.6 million shares at $36 each for total gross proceeds of $201.6 million. The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 840,000 shares. Read More
Health Canada proposed amendments to Canada's Food and Drug Regulations that would give drug manufacturers greater flexibility in how they develop generics. Read More
Clinigen Group plc, of Burton Upon Trent, U.K., said its subsidiary, Clinigen K.K., and GC Pharma Corp., of Yongin, South Korea, signed an exclusive licensing agreement in Japan to commercialize Hunterase (Idursulfase-beta) ICV, a human recombinant iduronate-2-sulfatase used in enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of Hunter syndrome. Read More
