News

AAA increased sales in 2013

Country
France

Advanced Accelerator Applications SA, a French manufacturer of nuclear medicine products, increased its sales of diagnostic products in 2013 while advancing its lead radiopharmaceutical, Lutathera, for patients with neuroendocrine tumours.

Ergomed raises £11 million in UK IPO

Country
United Kingdom

A UK-based drug services company, Ergomed Plc, is to be admitted to the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange following a fundraising of £11 million. Shares in the company are expected to start trading on 15 July.

ArGEN-X raises €40 million in IPO

Country
Belgium

ArGEN-X NV, which is developing antibody therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune diseases, has raised €40 million in an initial public offering on the Euronext stock exchange in Brussels. If over-allotment options are exercised in full, total proceeds will rise to €44 million.

Shire urges shareholders not to act

Country
Ireland

Shire Plc has urged its shareholders not to act in response to a new cash and share takeover proposal from AbbVie Inc that values the company at about £51.15 per share, up by 11% from £46.26 per share earlier. The proposal is AbbVie’s fourth for the Dublin-based company.

System for cutting medication errors gets funding

Country
Netherlands

Life Sciences Partners (LSP) BV of the Netherlands is leading a €4.4 million Series A financing round for privately-held Mint Solutions Holding BV which has developed technology for verifying that drugs administered in a hospital correctly match their prescriptions.

NIH to fund epigenetic database

Country
United States

A division of the US National Institutes of Health is to support the creation of a new database that will enable the study of the interaction of more than 1,400 Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs and drug-like compounds with more than 30 epigenetic enzymes.

UK diagnostic firm makes debut on AIM

Country
United Kingdom

Premaitha Health Plc, which is developing a prenatal test for genetic disorders such as Down’s syndrome, has made its debut on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in a transaction that involved a reverse takeover, a name change, a reverse split and additional finance.

Abzena raises £20 million ahead of IPO

Country
United Kingdom

Abzena Plc, which provides services to companies developing biopharmaceuticals, has conditionally raised £20 million through the placement of new shares in conjunction with its forthcoming listing on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.

FDA approves new HDAC inhibitor

Country
United States

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor developed by Topotarget of Denmark to treat patients with peripheral T cell lymphoma (PTCL), a rare and fast-growing type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Arzerra approved for new CLL indication

Country
Denmark

Arzerra (ofatumumab), a monoclonal antibody that targets CD20, has been approved in Europe for a new use in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia – this time as a first-line combination therapy for those who are ineligible for fludarabine chemotherapy.