Deals: Page 14
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AstraZeneca gives up on Ionis’ RNA drug for heart disease
The British drugmaker decided the medicine, which works similarly to Novartis’s Leqvio, wasn’t potent enough to justify further testing.
By Jonathan Gardner • Sept. 23, 2022 -
Design Cells via Getty Images
Cell therapy startup Carisma merges with troubled Sesen in bid for Wall Street
The deal results from a strategic review Sesen, formerly known as Eleven Biotherapeutics, undertook after the FDA rejected its top drug last year.
By Gwendolyn Wu • Sept. 21, 2022 -
Stock via Getty Images
Rocket gives struggling gene therapy company a lifeline after SPAC merger
Rocket is acquiring Renovacor at a roughly 75% discount to its public debut price last year, when it became one of dozens of biotechs to merge with a blank check company, or SPAC.
By Ben Fidler • Sept. 20, 2022 -
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GenFit, continuing rebuild, buys startup Versantis
The French company, still aiming to rebound from a Phase 3 study failure two years ago, will pay about $41 million for Versantis and its experimental liver disease drugs.
By Delilah Alvarado • Sept. 19, 2022 -
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Theravance, flush with royalty cash, buys shares from GSK
The planned transaction will further unwind the respiratory disease company’s relationship with GSK, which dates back two decades.
By Jonathan Gardner • Sept. 19, 2022 -
atiatiati via Getty Images
After safety setbacks, job cuts, Imara sells its top drug to a startup
The biotech, which has lost nearly all of its value since going public in 2020, reached a deal to sell a drug it tested in sickle cell disease to Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, a richly funded company focused on cardiovascular research.
By Kristin Jensen • Sept. 8, 2022 -
Roche to pay $250M for Good Therapeutics and its targeted drug technology
The team behind the Seattle-based startup will launch a new company, Bonum Therapeutics, after the sale to Roche is completed.
By Kristin Jensen • Sept. 7, 2022 -
Courtesy of Illumina
Illumina’s hold on Grail depends now on separate appeals in US, Europe
While it plans to appeal this week’s EC decision, Illumina say it’s preparing for ‘strategic alternatives’ to its acquisition of early cancer detection firm Grail.
By Elise Reuter • Updated Sept. 6, 2022 -
Courtesy of Grail
Judge rules in favor of Illumina, countering FTC concerns over Grail merger
The ruling makes it more likely Illumina can retain its former subsidiary, which makes cancer diagnostics. The dispute is an important test case for the agency’s plans to more closely scrutinize life sciences mergers.
By Elise Reuter , Ricky Zipp • Sept. 2, 2022 -
Stock/Ezume Images via Getty Images
With rare acquisition, Novo Nordisk makes $1B bet on sickle cell disease drug
The target company, Forma Therapeutics, started as a developer of cancer drugs but has made the most progress in rare blood disorders, attracting Novo’s attention.
By Jonathan Gardner • Updated Sept. 6, 2022 -
Spencer Platt via Getty Images
Biotech startup Ocean pivots from IPO to SPAC merger
The blank-check deal gives Ocean another route to public markets after it struggled to price an initial public offering it revealed back in June 2021.
By Delilah Alvarado • Aug. 31, 2022 -
Scott Barbour / Staff via Getty Images
Neurocrine, with latest deal, gets a foothold in Europe
The neuroscience-focused company has agreed to buy U.K.-based Diurnal for around $57 million, a move it expects to “accelerate the establishment of its clinical development and commercial activities” in Europe.
By Jacob Bell • Aug. 30, 2022 -
Novartis begins plans to spin off generic drug business
After reviewing multiple options including a possible sale, the Swiss drugmaker said spinning off Sandoz would give the division “greater freedom to operate” and capitalize on newly growing sales.
By Jonathan Gardner • Aug. 25, 2022 -
privetik via Getty Images
Aerie’s glaucoma drug journey ends in $770M sale to Alcon
The biotech successfully brought two medicines to market, but shares have lost most of their value amid sluggish sales.
By Ben Fidler • Aug. 23, 2022 -
Permission granted by Disc Medicine
Gemini’s fall gives Disc a way around biotech’s IPO slump
The biotech’s failed attempt to develop an eye drug has ended in a reverse merger that gives startup Disc Medicine a fast path to the public markets.
By Gwendolyn Wu • Aug. 10, 2022 -
David Dee Delgado via Getty Images
Pfizer buys sickle cell drugmaker Global Blood for $5.4B
The acquisition gives Pfizer access to Oxbryta, an approved drug for the blood condition, as well as two experimental medicines.
By Delilah Alvarado , Ned Pagliarulo • Updated Aug. 8, 2022 -
Permission granted by Gilead Sciences
How a small UK biotech ended up in Gilead’s hands
MiroBio, which was spun out of the University of Oxford three years ago, drew Gilead’s interest with its autoimmune disease research.
By Gwendolyn Wu • Aug. 5, 2022 -
Amgen bets almost $4B on a biotech and its inflammation drugs
The deals hands Amgen a few clinical programs and a marketed therapy in Tavneos, which was approved last year to treat a group of autoimmune diseases.
By Jacob Bell • Aug. 4, 2022 -
Courtesy of AbCellera
AbCellera inks another venture partnership, this time with Atlas
One week after striking a deal with Versant, the antibody specialist is teaming up with Atlas to provide drug candidates to an undisclosed startup backed by the biotech investor.
By Delilah Alvarado • Aug. 3, 2022 -
AbbVie, targeting a well-known protein family, expands a partnership into neuroscience
It’s the second deal in as many years between AbbVie and Sosei Heptares, which together have been trying to develop drugs that target so-called G protein-coupled receptors.
By Jacob Bell • Aug. 2, 2022 -
Meletios Verras via Getty Images
Ipsen, continuing oncology push, pays a startup $45M for two cancer drugs
The French company will work with Marengo Therapeutics in an alliance that could be worth as much as $1.6 billion.
By Delilah Alvarado • Aug. 1, 2022 -
Photo illustration by Maura Sadovi/BioPharma Dive; photograph by Carl Court via Getty Images
US secures updated COVID boosters in $1.7B deal with Moderna
Health officials are gearing up for a fall vaccination campaign and aim to deploy shots modified to better match circulating omicron subvariants.
By Delilah Alvarado • July 29, 2022 -
Permission granted by Sekar Kathiresan
Vertex, Verve team up to develop a gene editing drug for liver disease
The deal, which is worth $60 million upfront, broadens Vertex’s reach into gene editing and expands Verve’s research beyond heart disease.
By Ben Fidler • July 20, 2022 -
AbbVie, building eye-care business, pays $60M for implantable glaucoma treatment
The pharma has secured an option to buy iSTAR Medical, which sells a small implant that helps lower eye pressure and is cleared for use in Europe.
By Elise Reuter • July 20, 2022 -
Md Saiful Islam Khan via Getty Images
Nestlé expands microbiome drug work with biotech deal
The food giant will pay French company Enterome about $40 million to join in the development of an inflammatory bowel disease drug as well as other food allergy treatments.
By Delilah Alvarado • July 18, 2022
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