News

DBV Technologies to raise new capital in US

Country
France

DBV Technologies SA, a French company which is developing a patch for peanut and milk allergies, has announced plans for a second US share offering in less than a year to support development of its technology.

Commentary - Cosmo spins out Cassiopea SpA

Country
Italy

Cosmo Pharmaceuticals SA, a closely held developer of gastrointestinal products, has spun out around half of its subsidiary, Cassiopea SpA, on the SIX Swiss Stock Exchange, but the majority shareholders of Cosmo will remain majority shareholders of Cassiopea.

Pieris offering expected to raise $22.7 million

Country
Germany

A public US share offering of Pieris Pharmaceuticals Inc (formerly Pieris AG) has been priced at $2.75 per share for the 9,090,909 shares on offer, giving net proceeds of $22.7 million, a figure that could rise if over-allotments are exercised.

Medigene secures new capital

Country
Germany

Munich-based Medigene AG has secured €46.4 million in new capital through the placement of shares with existing shareholders and new institutional investors to support clinical development of its dendritic cell (DC) vaccines against cancer and other immunotherapy projects.

Alzheimer’s trial fails to meet endpoint

Country
Germany

A second drug being developed by Roche for Alzheimer’s disease has failed an efficacy test – this time in a Phase 2b trial. The drug, sembragiline (RG1577, EVT302), is an inhibitor of an enzyme that contributes to the production of free radicals, which contribute to the disease’s pathology.

Celgene and Juno team up in cancer

Country
United States

Celgene Corporation is set to pay $1 billion for access to engineered T cell technologies developed by Juno Therapeutics Inc in one of the year’s most significant oncology deals. The 10-year collaboration will focus on chimeric antigen receptor technology and T cell receptor technologies.

Transgene restructures with loss of 120 jobs

Country
France

Transgene SA, a publicly-listed biotech whose majority shareholder is Institut Mérieux, has announced plans to terminate its pharmaceutical development and bio-manufacturing activities resulting in the loss of about 120 jobs, or about 41% of its workforce.

Eli Lilly and Immunocore to test combination therapy

Country
United Kingdom

Eli Lilly and Company and Immunocore Ltd have agreed to test two potential combination therapies for the treatment of melanoma that involve Immunocore’s T cell receptor technology together with two of Lilly’s experimental kinase inhibitors.

Novartis acquires neurology company

Country
Switzerland

Novartis is increasing its involvement in neurology with the acquisition of Spinifex Pharmaceuticals Inc, a privately held Australian-American company that is developing a potentially novel treatment for chronic pain and particularly neuropathic pain.

Allergy Therapeutics outlines plans for US trials

Country
United Kingdom

Allergy Therapeutics Plc has outlined plans for the resumption of US clinical trials of its short-course vaccine against grass allergy, Pollinex Quattro Grass, following the submission of trial protocols to the Food and Drug Administration, and new funding.