Ablynx NV reported a 37% rise in income to €49.3 million in 2014 led by a sharp increase in paid-for research and upfront payments from partnerships. The company’s operating losses narrowed by 8% to €16.2 million despite a 25% rise in research and development spending to €54.5 million.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Toujeo (insulin glargine), a basal insulin for the treatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The compound has been developed by Sanofi SA and is intended to improve glycemic control in adults living with the disease.
Prexton Therapeutics SA, a 2012 spin-out of Merck Serono, has raised €8.7 million in a Series A financing round to support development of new compounds for the treatment of central nervous system disorders. The candidate compounds are allosteric modulators.
Shire Plc, whose portfolio is split between treatments for rare diseases and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, has acquired Meritage Pharma Inc and its late-stage product for eosinophilic esophagitis, an inflammatory disorder of the esophagus.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is to spend up to $1.25 billion to acquire Flexus Biosciences Inc and specifically, a preclinical small molecule compound and discovery programme, both directed at oncology indications. The assets complement BMS’s own immunotherapy products.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Farydak (panobinostat) for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma – the first histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor to be authorised for this disease. The approval was announced on 23 February 2015.
Merck & Co Inc is to partner with NGM Biopharmaceuticals Inc to build its capabilities in the area of therapies for metabolic diseases. The collaboration covers several preclinical candidate drugs including one for diabetes, obesity and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Innate Pharma SA made further progress in 2014 in developing antibodies that enable the innate immune system to kill cancer but the cost of clinical development pushed its losses sharply higher.
UK-based Heptares Therapeutics Ltd, which has drug discovery technology targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), has agreed to be taken over by Sosei Group Corporation of Japan enabling it to develop and commercialise its pipeline within a larger, global group.
Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi), which specialises in treatments for rare diseases, reported a 19.8% increase in revenue in 2014 but its loss widened sharply, mainly because of a write-off connected with a product failure.