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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This was a month that will likely be remembered as when Takeda and Shire shook hands on a $62 billion deal for the Japanese drugmaker to take over the rare diseases specialist. 12 June 2018
Biotechnology
US drugmaker Alexion Pharmaceuticals has entered into a partnership with Dutch biotech Complement Pharma to co-develop the preclinical C6 complement inhibitor CP010 for neurodegenerative disorders. 12 June 2018
Pharmaceutical
Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical has managed to raise up to $7.5 billion in a term loan credit agreement from financial institutions including JP Morgan Chase, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, MUFG Bank, and others. Most of the money was provided by Japanese companies. 8 June 2018
Pharmaceutical
French independent pharma company Servier today announced the appointments of Christian Schubert and Rekha Paleyanda as directors of Servier BioInnovation along with the opening of the Servier BioInnovation office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 7 June 2018
Biosimilars
South Korea’s Celltrion is setting up a new contract development and manufacturing organization, dubbed Bio CDMO. 5 June 2018
Pharmaceutical
The Gallardo Family, the main shareholders of the listed Spanish pharmaceutical company Almirall, today announced to the Spanish Regulator the acquisition of 8.45% of the shares of the company that were in the hands of Daniel Bravo Andreu. 23 May 2018
Biotechnology
Soaring obesity rates and the accompanying scourge of type 2 diabetes have done wonders for insulin kingpin Novo Nordisk’s bottom line over the last quarter-century. 23 May 2018
Pharmaceutical
Japanese pharma major Takeda is to sell its majority share in Guangdong Techpool Bio-Pharma. 22 May 2018
Biotechnology
GC Pharma, a South Korean biopharma formerly known as Green Cross Corporation, has set up a USA-based company dedicated to the development of new vaccines. 21 May 2018
Pharmaceutical
US President Donald Trump at last revealed his ‘Blueprint for drug pricing’ which was not as bad as some in the investment community and pharma industry had expected. On the M&A and deal-making front, Eli Lilly announced a second acquisition within a matter of days, that of AurKa Pharma, while bluebird bio entered into a new agreement with Medigene for two additional TCR targets to take a lead in immuno-oncology. Research and regulatory news attracting attention last week included positive trial results for Eli Lilly’s neurological candidate galcanezumab in epsodic cluster headache, which is currently under Food and Drug Administration review for migraine, and the landmark US approval of Aimovig from Amgen and Novartis for migraine, a rival to Lilly’s candidate. 20 May 2018
Biotechnology
Talking to investors in London, Takeda Pharmaceutical's chief executive Christophe Weber said his firm would remain focused on R&D to grow after his firm’s merger with rare disease specialist Shire. 18 May 2018
Biotechnology
A single-cell genomic sequencing company has been launched following a $65 million Series A financing led by Third Rock Ventures. 16 May 2018
Pharmaceutical
Japanese conglomerate Fujifilm Holdings will increase its stake in Toyama Chemical to 100% and merge it with an existing unit to create a new company focused on the swift development of new diagnostic and therapeutic drugs. 15 May 2018
Biotechnology
US clinical-stage immuno-oncology company TapImmune has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Marker Therapeutics, a privately-held clinical-stage developer of a transformative, non-genetically engineered, multi-antigen T cell therapy platform. 15 May 2018
Pharmaceutical
Following the finalization of his firm’s $62 billion purchase of Dubkin’s Shire, Takeda Pharamceutical chief executive Christophe Weber says the deal will start to pay dividends almost immediately. 14 May 2018
Pharmaceutical
Announcing a second M&A deal in less than a week, US pharma major Eli Lilly today said it plans to acquire AurKa Pharma, a company established by TVM Capital Life Science to develop oncology compound AK-01. 14 May 2018
Generics
Switzerland’s Novartis is moving to offload its American dermatology business and oral treatments division, among other assets, for up to $2 billion. 14 May 2018
Biotechnology
As more Chinese pharma companies are seeking potential assets globally, especially biotech startups, they need to be aware of cultural differences, which in some cases could even blow up a deal, noted speaks at ChinaBio partnering forum held in Suzhou on Apr 26, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent Wang Fangqing. 14 May 2018
Pharmaceutical
What looks likely to be one of the biggest pharma industry M&A deals for several year, and certainly the largest acquisition by a Japanese company ever, seems set to move forward, with the agreement between Ireland-based Shire and Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical. Also on the M&A front, Eli Lilly agreed to acquire immuno-oncology drug developer Arma Biosciences and its lead candidate pegilodecakin. Among research news attracting attention was mixed results for Johnson & Johnson’s depression drug candidate esketamine, and elsewhere there was transformative news from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, including a name change to Bausch Health Companies. 13 May 2018
Biotechnology
A week after appointing a key staff member to drive its bid to become a big player in the burgeoning immuno-oncology (I-O) space, Eli Lilly has announced an acquisition to further the mission. 10 May 2018
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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