Under the leadership of Vasant Narasimhan, Novartis has reported a rise in sales and operating profit in the first quarter and completed two commercial transactions that will shape the company’s pharmaceutical portfolio in the months to come.
After Shire Plc rejected a cash and stock offer of about $63 billion from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co and Allergan Plc reconsidered its statement that it was considering an offer for Dublin-based company, Shire’s market value settled at around $48.4 billion in trading Friday, reflecting investor’s disbelief that a higher bid might be in the offing
Shire Plc announced on 16 April that it has reached a deal to sell its oncology business to Servier SAS of France for $2.4 billion. The transaction was described by the company as a move to sharpen its focus on its portfolio for drugs treating rare diseases.
The Belgium-based cell therapy company Promethera Biosciences SA has branched out into biologics with the acquisition of Baliopharm AG, a Swiss developer of therapies for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and cancer. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Enterprise Therapeutics Ltd, which is developing compounds for respiratory diseases by targeting unwanted mucus in the lungs, has raised £29 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round co-led by Versant Ventures and the Novartis Venture Fund.
Orchard Therapeutics Ltd has come closer to its goal of becoming a global supplier of gene therapies following an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Plc to take over that company’s portfolio of gene therapies for rare diseases.
Wilson Therapeutics AB is to be bought by Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc for $855 million in a deal that underscores the potential of the Swedish company’s lead product for Wilson disease, a rare genetic disorder that prevents the body from regulating copper. The disease can lead to liver and brain damage.
Recent positive data from a Phase 2b trial of patients with multiple sclerosis illustrates the role of pathogenic HERV-W protein in the genesis of the disease. The protein was neutralised by an antibody therapy developed by GeNeuro SA, the first time this has been shown in a clinical trial.
MorphoSys AG has filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public offering of its shares on the Nasdaq market. The offering will consist of up to 8.3 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs), the German company said on 9 April.
Novartis appears set to become a first mover in gene therapy again with the agreed acquisition of AveXis Inc, a company with a late-stage gene replacement therapy for treating spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).