PharmaDeals Review: Latest Articles
All the latest analysis of deal-making activity in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector provided by the experts from the PharmaDeals Review.
- Published on: 2008-09-10 Cellzome’s Billion Dollar Deal with GSK Cellzome, developer of the Kinobeads™ technology, signed a major deal with GlaxoSmithKline for the development of kinase inhibitors to treat inflammatory diseases. Cellzome could receive a total of £830 M (US$1.5 B) if drugs developed for all seven identified targets make it to market.
- Published on: 2008-09-04 Ablynx’s Nanobodies® Take in Another Big Pharma Ablynx continues to rack up the deals for its potentially lucrative Nanobodies® and Merck Serono is the latest to enter into an agreement with the company. A flexible profit-sharing clause in the agreement could establish a steady revenue stream for Ablynx, though this will depend on whether the company chooses to exercise this.
- Published on: 2008-09-03 Medivation and Pfizer to Partner on Alzheimer’s Drug Pfizer has paid US$725 M for Medivation’s Alzheimer’s drug, Dimebon™. Unlike drugs such as Flurizan® (tarenflurbil) and bapineuzumab, which have stumbled in clinical trials, Dimebon has demonstrated significant benefit to Alzheimer’s sufferers in Phase III clinical trials and offers a new approach to treat the disease.
- Published on: 2008-09-02 Shionogi Keeps Up with Latest Japanese Pharma Trend Shionogi has agreed to acquire Sciele Pharma for US$1.4 B in another instance of a Japanese pharmaceutical company taking over a US company. The changes in the local industry within Japan have fuelled this trend, though it is now increasingly likely that Japanese pharmaceuticals are simply trying to keep up with their competitors’ global strategies.
- Published on: 2008-09-02 Novacea Rescued by Transcept Novacea and Transcept Pharmaceuticals entered into a merger agreement in an all-stock transaction. Novacea was seeking a merger candidate since Schering-Plough ended its collaboration following the termination of a Phase III study for the prostate cancer therapy, Asentar™.
- Published on: 2008-08-28 Valeant Licenses Epilepsy Drug to GSK GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to license in the epilepsy drug, retigabine, in a deal that could be as much as US$820 M to Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The deal also includes the follow up compound, VX698, and others from the potassium channel opener discovery programme.
- Published on: 2008-08-26 Novosom Smarticles® to Encapsulate Isis Antisense Drugs Novosom has licensed antisense drugs from Isis to which it will apply its Smarticle® technology for effective delivery. This agreement is yet another opportunity for Novosom to validate the potential of its proprietary technology.
- Published on: 2008-08-26 QLT Continues to Divest its Portfolio As part of its restructuring programme announced on the back of falling revenues of its leading product, Visudyne® (verteporfin), QLT has divested another core asset by licensing out its Atrigel® drug delivery technology to Reckitt Benckiser for US$25 M.
- Published on: 2008-08-19 Bristol-Myers Squibb Deal Provides PDL with Much Needed Boost PDL BioPharma, a biotech that’s recently been forced to sell a number of its key assets, has announced some positive news in the form of a deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb for PDL’s Phase I multiple myeloma candidate, elotuzumab. PDL will receive US$30 M upfront and potential milestones that could total US$680 M if the product is successfully developed and marketed.
- Published on: 2008-08-19 Cel-Sci’s Multikine Could be Distributed by Teva in Turkey and Israel Cel-Sci has granted Teva exclusive marketing and distribution rights for its lead candidate, Multikine, within Turkey and Israel. With its unique mode of action, Multikine has the potential to reach blockbuster status though the drug must still successfully complete Phase III trials.
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