Icahn pushes for spinoff of Illumina’s Grail division

The billionaire financier, who is waging a proxy fight for seats on Illumina’s board, is arguing that the liquid biopsy developer should become a separate, publicly traded company.

By Susan Kelly • April 11, 2023

GSK outlines deal to send cell therapies back to Adaptimmune

The pharma, which recently retreated from cell therapy research, will pay Adaptimmune about $37 million as part of an agreement to return rights to two cancer treatments.

By Ben Fidler • April 11, 2023

Canaan reloads with $850M in fresh funds for startup investing

As with past funds, Canaan anticipates it will allocate about 65% of its capital for technology investments, with the rest going into healthcare and biotech.

By Kristin Jensen • April 6, 2023

Ginkgo grows its gene therapy offerings with StrideBio deal

The deal hands Ginkgo technology for discovering and engineering capsids — the outer shell that protects the helpful genetic material in gene therapies.

By Jacob Bell • April 5, 2023

Biogen taps a deals expert in latest C-suite appointment

Hiring Adam Keeney, a Sanofi veteran, to lead corporate development could be seen as timely, given that dealmaking has come into focus at Biogen since the recent appointment of Chris Viehbacher as CEO.

By Jacob Bell • April 4, 2023

Why won’t Illumina sell Grail?

While financier Carl Icahn and regulators want the DNA-sequencing company to divest liquid biopsy company Grail, Illumina’s board isn’t budging yet. Analysts say they may be waiting for the best moment.

By Susan Kelly • April 4, 2023

Illumina ordered to divest Grail by FTC on anticompetition concerns

The San Diego-based DNA-sequencing company, which also faces a challenge from European antitrust regulators, said it will appeal the FTC’s order.

By Susan Kelly • April 3, 2023

GSK pays $90M to gain access to Scynexis antifungal

The licensing deal for the FDA-approved medicine, Brexafemme, includes milestone payments that could add up to $503 million.

By Kristin Jensen • March 30, 2023

Novartis taps Bicycle to develop radiopharmaceutical drugs for cancer

The pharma aims to use Bicycle's drugmaking technology to explore new ways of making the targeted radiation treatments.

By Delilah Alvarado • March 28, 2023

Vertex pays CRISPR to use its gene editing tech for diabetes drugs

Vertex will license CRISPR technology to develop insulin-producing islet cells that are more resistant to immune rejection, adding to other efforts directed at Type 1 diabetes.

By Christopher Newman • March 27, 2023

Karuna’s schizophrenia drug success draws a royalty buyer

PureTech Health will sell some of its royalty interest in Karuna’s drug, known as KarXT, after its second successful late-phase trial this week.

By Christopher Newman • March 24, 2023

Illumina, facing Icahn challenge, ‘moving quickly’ on resolution for Grail

The DNA-sequencing company said the activist investor hasn’t offered any better solutions for satisfying regulators’ concerns about the acquisition.

By Susan Kelly • March 20, 2023

Jounce gets rival takeover bid from company controlled by shareholder

Tang Capital’s Concentra Biosciences is offering Jounce investors a competing bid to the biotech’s planned reverse merger with Redx Pharma.

By Kristin Jensen • March 15, 2023

In Pfizer-Seagen review, FTC has chance to set new pharma precedent

The regulator’s review of the planned $43 billion deal could reveal how it plans to apply a new philosophy toward drugmaker mergers.

By Jonathan Gardner • March 14, 2023

Pfizer to buy Seagen in $43B cancer drug deal

The acquisition, which Pfizer closed Dec. 14, gives it control of a top-selling lymphoma drug and a pipeline of medicines that made the Seattle-based company one of the sector’s most valuable biotechs.

By Ned Pagliarulo • Updated March 13, 2023

Canadian royalty investor buys into first-of-its-kind Type 1 diabetes drug

DRI Healthcare, which owns royalties on top-selling drugs like Eylea and Stelara, is paying $100 million for a piece of the Provention Bio drug Tzield that the FDA approved last year.

By Gwendolyn Wu • March 9, 2023

Adaptimmune acquires struggling cell therapy rival following layoffs

The planned merger between Adaptimmune and TCR2 will extend their cash runway by two years, as a biotech downturn continues to pressure companies.

By Jonathan Gardner • March 6, 2023

Seagen reportedly in sales talks again, this time with Pfizer

Citing people familiar with the talks, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Pfizer is trying to acquire Seagen and its suite of cancer therapies in a deal that could be worth more than $30 billion.

By Jacob Bell • Feb. 27, 2023

Jounce to lay off half its workers, merge with UK biotech Redx

The cancer biotech will combine with Redx Pharma, with the resulting company focusing on Redx’s programs for cancer and fibrotic disease.

By Christopher Newman • Feb. 23, 2023

Moderna inks another gene editing deal

The messenger RNA specialist said Wednesday it is teaming up with Life Edit Therapeutics to develop therapies that can modify genes “in vivo.”

By Jacob Bell • Feb. 22, 2023

Karuna, hoping to find new brain drugs, buys up a shuttering biotech’s pipeline

Though Goldfinch Bio focused on kidney diseases, Karuna believes its experimental drugs may have potential treating psychiatric and neurological conditions.

By Jacob Bell • Feb. 2, 2023

UniQure nabs another gene therapy for ALS

For $10 million upfront, UniQure has licensed rights to its second experimental treatment for the condition, a medicine from startup Apic Bio that should enter human testing later this year.

By Jacob Bell • Jan. 31, 2023

Takeda pays $400M to buy into Hutchmed’s colorectal cancer drug

The deal is the second big licensing deal Takeda has signed in as many months and gives the company rights to a drug Hutchmed began submitting to U.S. regulators in December.

By Christopher Newman • Jan. 23, 2023

3 biotech executives on the year ahead: deals, drug pricing and the down market

“What we’re experiencing now is the aftershock of the party that went on for the last three years,” said Ovid CEO Jeremy Levin in a BioPharma Dive panel that included former Sage head Jeff Jonas and biotech entrepreneur Greg Verdine.

By Jacob Bell • Jan. 19, 2023

Editas, in next restructuring step, to sell cell therapy work to Shoreline

Shoreline will acquire a preclinical NK cell therapy Editas has been developing, as well as a license to use the CRISPR biotech’s gene editing technology. 

By Ned Pagliarulo • Jan. 19, 2023