The week in pharma: action, reaction and insight – week to July 22

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Managing editor

Last week’s news featured two M&A deals. First, last Tuesday Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical exercised its option to acquire development partner GeneTx for an upfront $75 million. Later, Silverback Therapeutics entered into a merger agreement with ARS Pharmaceuticals, that would see ARS equity holders owning 63% of the combined company. On the regulatory front, late Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration grated approval for Incyte’s vitiligo treatment Opzelura. US biotech VistaGen Therapeutics saw nearly 86% of its market capitalization wiped out last Friday, when it revealed that a Phase III study of its social anxiety disorder candidate PH94B had missed its primary endpoint.

Ultragenyx sees enough in Angelman