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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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
Pharmaceutical
US drugmaker AbbVie has expanded its eye care portfolio in a deal with Belgian company iSTAR Medical. 20 July 2022
Biotechnology
Along with providing a program update on GTX-102 for the treatment of Angelman syndrome (AS), Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals today announced it will acquire GeneTx Biotherapies, its partner on the candidate. 19 July 2022
Generics
Novartis has reported slightly lower than expected revenues for the second quarter, which came in at $12.78 billion, a 1% decline from the same period of last year. 19 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
India’s healthcare and pharmaceutical sector recorded hectic deal activity with the value of merger and acquisitions (M&A) in the first six months of 2022 scaling a record high to touch $4.32 billion compared to $2.02 billion in the comparative period last year, and crossing the total deal value of $3.35 billion in 2021. 18 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
Today, Haleon launched as an independent company 100% focused on consumer health, completing its demerger from UK pharma major GSK. 18 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
“I think this is the success-model that a lot of people should be paying attention to.” 18 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
M&A news last week featured Vertex Pharmaceuticals announcing last Monday that it has agreed to acquire fellow USA-based ViaCyte for $320 million to boost its development of type 1 diabetes therapies. On the deal-making front, Finland’s Orion Corp last Wednesday revealed a major collaboration with US pharma giant Merck & Co for its prostate cancer candidate ODM-208. Theravance BioPharma entered into an arrangement to sell its royalties on asthma drug Trelegy, marketed by GSK, for around $1.5 billion. Also, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally approved Novavax’ Covid-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, but the firm’s shares crashed 26% to $51.62. 17 July 2022
Generics
Following a public comment period, the USA’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a final order settling charges that London-listed Jordanian drugmaker Hikma Pharmaceuticals’ $375 million acquisition of Custopharm likely would have harmed competition in the market for the corticosteroid drug triamcinolone acetonide, or TCA. 15 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
US drugmaker Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX) yesterday announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement under to acquire ViaCyte, a privately held biotechnology company focused on delivering novel stem cell-derived cell replacement therapies as a functional cure for type 1 diabetes (T1D), for $320 million in cash. 12 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
US drugmaker La Jolla Pharmaceuticals Company saw its shares rocket 81.7% to $6.16 in early trading, after it was revealed that it has received a takeover approach from Innoviva. 11 July 2022
Biotechnology
Oxford Biomedica early last week signed a new three-year agreement with UK pharma major AstraZeneca for future production of its COVID-19 vaccine, Vaxzevria. The following day, AstraZeneca announced a heavily-backloaded deal worth as much as $1.27 billion to acquire TeneoTwo to expand its blood cancer pipeline. Norway’s Nordic Nanovector provided a negative update on its follicular lymphoma candidate, Betalutin, saying it would drop further development. US biotech CytomX Therapeutics revealed that it could only continue the development of breast cancer candidate, praluzatamab ravtansine, if it finds a partner to share costs. Intercept Pharmaceuticals last Thursday released new data on its NASH candidate obeticholic acid, which is sees as providing evidence of a refiling of a new drug application (NDA) with the US Food and Drug Administration. 10 July 2022
Biotechnology
USA-based immuno-oncology company Portage Biotech has signed an agreement to acquire Tarus Therapeutics, a private company developing adenosine receptor antagonists. 7 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
German companies Evotec and Boehringer Ingelheim have joined forces with French diagnostics firm bioMérieux to form a joint venture to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR). 6 July 2022
Biotechnology
Gene expression company Syros Pharmaceuticals is to acquire TYME Technologies in a deal that values the oncology-focused biotech at around $60 million. 5 July 2022
Biotechnology
In a move to further expand its blood cancer research portfolio, Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca today announced an agreement to acquire USA-based biotech TeneoTwo, including its Phase I clinical-stage CD19/CD3 T-cell engager, TNB-486, currently under evaluation in relapsed and refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 5 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
Indian drugmaker Cipla Limited has agreed to acquire an additional stake for rupees 25.90 crore ($3.3 million) in digital tech company GoApptiv Private Limited and post completion of the deal, Cipla’s total stake in GoApptiv will increase to 22.02% on a fully diluted basis. 4 July 2022
Biotechnology
Last Monday, French drugmaker Ipsen said it has agreed to acquire US epigenetic therapies specialist Epizyme and its lead candidate Tazverik, for around $247 million. Blueprint Medicines entered a deal with Sixth Street and Royalty Pharma selling them royalties to Ayvakit and Gavreto for about $1.25 billion. Switzerland’s Roivant Sciences has set up another ‘vant’ – Priovant Therapeutics - with US pharma giant Pfizer taking a 25% stake, that will develop the autoimmune disease candidate brepocitinib. Also, Denmark’s Lundbeck and Japan’s Otsuka announced encouraging Phase III results of their brexpiprazole for the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, the US Food and Drug Administration adapted new rules for COVID-19 booster jabs. 3 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
An analysis from Accenture has suggested that biopharma’s inorganic approach to fostering growth is no longer sustainable due to rising M&A costs. 1 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
An analysis of how - and why - oncology remains the hottest area for big-money deals in pharma. 1 July 2022
Pharmaceutical
Rumors of a mega Merck & Co acquisition have been swirling round in recent weeks, and while the potential takeover of Seagen has not yet happened, a few noteworthy deals have been announced during June. 1 July 2022
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