Medivir AB has announced the termination of an early-stage hepatitis C project that was being conducted with Janssen Pharmaceuticals because early signs of clinical activity were too weak. The compound, AL-704, was nevertheless safe and well-tolerated.
Crispr Therapeutics AG of Switzerland and Bayer AG of Germany are to form a jointly owned company to exploit Crispr’s gene-editing capabilities and Bayer’s expertise in engineering proteins to develop new therapeutics, the two companies announced on 21 December.
Privately-owned Servier of France has exercised an option to acquire equity in GeNeuro SA, a Swiss biotech that is poised to test a new antibody in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
Inthera Bioscience AG, a Swiss start-up company with a new approach for treating cancer, has received €3.4 million in seed money from a syndicate of venture capital investors led by MS Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Merck KGaA.
A new device that uses the principle of birefringence, or the double refraction of light, can rapidly detect viral and bacterial pathogens as well as the parasite that causes malaria, according to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH).
AbbVie Inc may have surprised Galapagos NV in September when it ended a multi-year agreement to develop a new drug for rheumatoid arthritis. But now Galapagos has responded with a new deal with Gilead Sciences Inc for the same drug, but on better terms.
Abzena Plc has made its second acquisition in three months in order to expand the number of services it markets to companies developing biopharmaceutical products for human disease. The deal highlights strong activity in the space for biosimilars and antibody-drug conjugates.
AstraZeneca Plc has agreed to make an upfront payment of $2.5 billion to take a controlling stake in Acerta Pharma BV of the Netherlands and manage a late-stage oncology asset that has shown positive results in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
It is not often that regulators, companies and investors meet in the same room, let alone discuss topics of mutual interest. But this was the setting for the fourth annual meeting of the industry group, European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises (EBE), and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in London on 14 December.
GamaMabs Pharma, a French biotech company focused on gynaecological cancers, has raised €15 million in a Series B financing round to take its lead product into first human studies. The round was led by the new investor Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.