Here is my BioBusiness update for the week with the top ten headlines I found. Let me know if I’ve missed any important pieces of news.
📢 Medline sews up Ecolab’s surgical drape business for $950M. The hospital supply giant is bolstering its presence in the operating room, with a plan to acquire Ecolab’s surgical solutions division.
📢 Novartis further entrenches into radiopharma with $1B Mariana Oncology buy. With Novartis’ existing radioligand pipeline featuring Pluvicto and Lutathera and the Big Pharma model of taking drugs to market, Mariana CEO Simon Read, Ph.D., said the deal was an easy choice.
📢 Novartis is also pumping another $180 million into its radioligand plan, handing the cash to serial dealmaker PeptiDream to expand (PDF) a peptide-drug conjugate (PDC) collaboration.
📢 Hologic picks up magnetic breast cancer marker maker Endomag for $310M. Endomag’s portfolio includes the Magseed implantable marker, a metal coil that is planted within cancerous lesions or affected lymph nodes to magnetically identify them for later removal.
📢 Bristol Myers Squibb is placing a $65 million bet on Repertoire Immune Medicines’ approach to resetting the immune system. The deal, which features up to $1.8 billion in future payments, gives BMS the right to collaborate with Repertoire on tolerizing vaccines for up to three autoimmune diseases
📢 BridgeBio taps VCs for $200M, fueling oncology spinout’s push to surpass KRAS class. BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics began a phase 1 trial of KRAS G12C inhibitor BBO-8520 in non-small cell lung cancer last month.
📢 Astellas has signed an agreement with Poseida Therapeutics, via Astellas’ subsidiary Xyphos Biosciences, to develop two cell therapy candidates for solid tumors. The terms include $50 million upfront and a possible $550 million in milestones down the line.
📢 GE HealthCare missed its revenue goals for the first quarter after sales in China dipped 11%, compared to the boosts the company saw in the region during the same period the year prior.
📢 Nottingham Uni spin out Locate Bio Ltd has raised an additional£9.2m in venture financing. It will use the fresh money to finance a clinical study of LDGraft, a bone graft substitute containing a sustained-release formulation of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 for spinal fusion.
📢 Digital health start-up Klineo SAS (Paris) has raised €2m to improve equity of access to clinical trials. Its AI-based platform connects doctors and patients directly with relevant trials in less than a minute. Accordomg to the company, its platform democratises access to new treatments for patients. The proceeds will enable Klineo to expand its platform to all types of cancer.