Pharma & Biotech Mergers & Acquisitions News
Pharmaceutical
Big pharmas are not deterred by China’s increasingly complex business environment. Instead, they are changing strategies to minimize risks while continuing to benefit from China, said speakers at ChinaTrials held last week in Shanghai. 18 November 2024
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Biotechnology
Bruised by its failure to enter the superlatively lucrative market for coronavirus shots, British drug developer GlaxoSmithKline is to spend billions boosting its vaccines business. 31 May 2022
Biotechnology
German biotech Evotec today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the capital of Rigenerand Srl, an Italian cell technology company. 30 May 2022
Biotechnology
Canadian biotech Zymeworks today announced that its board of directors, after thorough consultation with its financial and legal advisors, unanimously determined that the unsolicited, opportunistic, proposal from an activist shareholder, Dubai-based All Blue Falcons and its affiliates to purchase Zymeworks for $10.50 per share (~$773 million in total) substantially undervalues the company and is not in the best interest of the firm and its shareholders. 20 May 2022
Biotechnology
Massachusetts, USA-based biotech incubator Flagship Pioneering announced the unveiling of a new company – Sonata Therapeutics – to develop novel medicines for a wide range of serious diseases based on understanding and re-engineering the cellular microenvironment. 19 May 2022
Biotechnology
Aprea Therapeutics saw its shares tank almost 30% to $0.68, after it revealed it has completed the acquisition of the privately-held USA-based biotechnology company Atrin Pharmaceuticals. 18 May 2022
Biotechnology
Building on a licensing deal with AstraZeneca, British biotech RQ Biotechnolgoy has announced its launch, with a focus on developing antibody treatments and preventive therapies. 17 May 2022
Biotechnology
In the news last week, on Monday Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen announced that it was terminating a license agreement with Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic on potential vaccines for hepatitis B and HPV. On the M&A front, having already invested in the biotech firm, US pharma giant Pfizer last Tuesday announced a full acquisition of Biohaven Pharmaeutical in a deal valuing the company at $11.6 billion, and giving it rights to the migraine drug Nurtec ODT. Also, Japanese drugmaker Otsuka’s Taiho unit has reached an agreement to acquire part of Cullinan Oncology and, in doing so, will regain rights to a lung cancer candidate previously offloaded to the US firm. Meantime, Swiss pharma giant Roche released disappointing Phase III results for its TIGIT blocker tiragolumab in lung cancer. 15 May 2022
Biotechnology
Investment company eureKARE, which is focused on financing and building biotech companies in the disruptive fields of synthetic biology and the microbiome, has announced the emergence of eureKING. 12 May 2022
Pharmaceutical
Tokyo’s Taiho Pharmaceutical, a business of Japanese drug major Otsuka Pharmaceutical, has agreed to buy part of Cullinan Oncology, thereby regaining rights to a candidate it out-licensed in 2019. 12 May 2022
Pharmaceutical
Netherlands-based Qiagen has signed agreements to acquire a 96% majority ownership stake in Blirt SA, a manufacturer of recombinant enzymes for the life science industry based in Gdansk, Poland. 12 May 2022
Biotechnology
Belgium’s cell therapy developer Bone Therapeutics (Euronext: BOTHE) today announced it has entered into a non-binding term sheet and exclusive discussions for a period of three months with the shareholders of Medsenic. 12 May 2022
Biotechnology
Armed with a pile of cash from its enormous successes with both a COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral treatment, US pharma giant Pfizer today announced the largest M&A deal so far this year in the biopharma sector. 10 May 2022
Pharmaceutical
Marketing firm Brand Finance has released its annual report assessing the strength and value of brands in the pharma and biotech sectors. 9 May 2022
Pharmaceutical
Last week US pharma giant Pfizer had a rare disappointment in its development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, with the release of Phase II/III data for its antiviral Paxlovid as a prophylactic therapy. Along with its first-quarter financial results last Tuesday, Biogen announced that it is shutting down most of the commercial infrastructure supporting the controversially approved Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm. UK drugmaker Advanz Pharma has reached agreement to acquire from USA-based Intercept Pharmaceuticals the majority of its subsidiaries and operations outside the USA. The US Food and Drug Administration last Thursday announced that Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine 8 May 2022
Pharmaceutical
UK-based speciality and hospital pharmaceuticals company Advanz Pharma has signed an agreement with Intercept Pharmaceuticals to acquire the majority of its subsidiaries and operations in Europe, Canada, and all other markets outside of the USA. 5 May 2022
Pharmaceutical
An in-depth look at the French drugmaker's movements on the deal-making front. 3 May 2022
Pharmaceutical
Big deals were the name of the game this month as some of pharma's biggest players came to the party in the M&A market. 3 May 2022
Biotechnology
Canada-based biotech Zymeworks late yesterday confirmed it has received an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from All Blue Falcons FZE (ABF) and its affiliates to purchase the company for $10.50 per share in cash, or some $773 million in total. 29 April 2022
Biotechnology
Privately-held Austrian biotech APEIRON Biologics today announced that the annual general meeting held yesterday has approved the new structure of the group through the demerger of its pre-clinical and clinical development activities and the creation of a new fully separate holding company, invIOs Holding AG. 26 April 2022
Pharmaceutical
The UK’s University of Birmingham has created a new spinout, Healome Therapeutics, to commercially deploy a platform that delivers a ‘pro-healing’ microenvironment for the leading causes of preventable blindness. 25 April 2022
Pharmaceutical
Swiss pharma giant Novartis today announced an upgrade to its mid-term guidance, in advance of its Meet Novartis Management event for investors and analysts in London. 21 November 2024
Biotechnology
Aizen Therapeutics, an AI-driven biotech headquartered in San Diego, has officially launched from stealth mode, introducing its drug discovery platform, DaX. 21 November 2024
Biotechnology
Massachusetts, USA-based firm VBI Vaccines has initiated a nationwide voluntary recall of PreHevbrio (hepatitis B vaccine), as it proceeds with bankruptcy and the shutdown of its operations. 19 November 2024
Pharmaceutical
Big pharmas are not deterred by China’s increasingly complex business environment. Instead, they are changing strategies to minimize risks while continuing to benefit from China, said speakers at ChinaTrials held last week in Shanghai. 18 November 2024
Biotechnology
Last week saw US pharma major AbbVie release disappointing Phase II trial results on its emraclidine in schizophrenia, which benefited Bristol Myers Squibb. Also on the research front, Germany’s Merck KGaA and Abbisko’s pimicotinib showed positive results in tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT). M&A news saw German BioNTech punting $800 million upfront to acquire China based oncology focused Biotheus. Also of note, US drugmaker Halozyme Therapeutics made an unsolicited takeover bid for Evotec, valuing the German firm, at around 2 billion euros. 17 November 2024
Biosimilars
South Korean biosimilars company Celltrion today announced its acquisition of iQone Healthcare Switzerland a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on distribution, sales, and marketing in Switzerland. 15 November 2024
Biotechnology
Shares of German drug discovery company Evotec leapt 20% to 10.33 euros this morning on the revelation that the USA’s Halozyme Therapeutics has submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire Evotec for 11.00 euros per share in cash, implying a fully-diluted equity value of around 2.0 billion euros ($2.12 billion). 15 November 2024
Biotechnology
BeiGene has announced plans to rebrand as BeOne Medicines, a move the cancer specialist says reflects its commitment to fighting cancer through collaboration. 15 November 2024
Pharmaceutical
Life science investor Syncona has announced the launch of its newest portfolio company, Slingshot Therapeutics, through the Syncona Accelerator initiative. 14 November 2024
Biotechnology
Although it is seeing a downturn in sales and profits, German biotech BioNTech is continuing to acquire assets with the cash pile it made through the covid pandemic, notably iis Comirnaty vaccine that was developed with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). 13 November 2024
Biotechnology
Trace Neuroscience, a newly launched biopharma based in San Francisco, aims to advance treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, starting with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). 12 November 2024
Biotechnology
AlloVir has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with biopharma company Kalaris Therapeutics. 8 November 2024
Pharmaceutical
European regulators will decide by December 6 whether Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk, can finalize its $16.5 billion acquisition of contract drug manufacturer Catalent. 5 November 2024
Biotechnology
California, USA-based biotech Nektar Therapeutics’ shares closed up more than 8% at $1.33 yesterday after it announced the sale of its only manufacturing facility. 5 November 2024
Pharmaceutical
Pharmaceutical M&A came back with a bang during October, after a quiet September. 5 November 2024
Pharmaceutical
US pharma major AbbVie last week proposed $1.4 billion acquisition of US CNS drug developer Aliada Therapeutics. Last week saw a bunch of third quarter 2024 financials results, among which were Elil Lilly, AbbVie and Merck & Co. Also of note, Lexicon’s type I diabetes drug Zynquista faced a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee review that resulted in largely negative vote against recommendation. 3 November 2024
Biotechnology
Maryland, USA–based glycobiology specialist GlycoMimetics has entered into an acquisition agreement with Crescent Biopharma, a privately held biotechnology company advancing a pipeline of oncology therapeutics designed to treat solid tumors. 30 October 2024
Biotechnology
German drugmaker Dr Falk Pharma GmbH today announced completion of the acquisition of Kynos Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of novel KMO inhibitors for acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. 29 October 2024
Biotechnology
US Pharma major AbbVie has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Aliada Therapeutics, a biotech advancing therapies using a novel blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing technology to address challenging central nervous system (CNS) diseases. 29 October 2024
Biotechnology
Ottimo Pharma, a biotech founded by Medicxi in 2020, has emerged from stealth mode with an executive team packed with prominent industry leaders. 28 October 2024
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