Here is Matt Lowdon‘s weekly deals update. Headlines come from T-cells, ultrasound, eye care, venture capital and more. Congratulations to everyone involved in these deals. More next week.
🔔 A new company has emerged to enter the increasingly crowded T-cell engager space. Excalipoint, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, is paying $10 million upfront to China’s Lepu Biopharma Co., Ltd in return for the rights to two preclinical assets.
🔔 Sanofi is handing over $130 million upfront for the China rights to Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals’ rare metabolic disease treatment that is currently being considered for approval by Chinese regulators.
🔔 Cheshire-headquartered biotech company Centauri Therapeutics Limited has received $5.1m (£3.8m) in funding to support the development of its lead compound.
🔔 Axonius has acquired New York-headquartered healthcare cybersecurity company Cynerio (Acquired By Axonius) in a $100m cash and stock deal.
🔔 Ultromics has raised $55 million in venture capital funding to expand the reach of its artificial-intelligence-powered ultrasound diagnostics for hidden cardiac conditions.
🔔 Bristol Myers Squibb is spinning off a fresh company armed with five autoimmune disease drugs and $300 million in Bain Capital-led financing as part of the Big Pharma’s ambitious cost-cutting drive. The new biotech, which has yet to be named, will be focused on five drugs licensed from BMS
🔔 Frazier Life Sciences has gathered an impressive $1.3 billion in capital commitments for its 12th venture fund aimed at private early-stage biotechs.
🔔 Madrigal Pharmaceuticals is paying $120 million upfront for a preclinical GLP-1 receptor agonist that the biopharma plans to pair up with its approved fatty liver disease med Rezdiffra
🔔 Kissei Pharmaceutical Co Ltd is paying Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. $70 million upfront for Japanese rights to a pair of thyroid eye disease (TED) drug candidates, establishing the drugmaker as a potential rival to Amgen.
🔔 Bausch Health Companies Inc. has struck a deal to buy DURECT Corporation for $63 million upfront, landing a phase 3-ready liver disease candidate that the companies believe has blockbuster potential.
🔔 MapLight Therapeutics, Inc. has raised a $372.5 million series D round, clearing the biotech to chart a course through phase 2 for its would-be challenger to Bristol Myers Squibb’s schizophrenia treatment Cobenfy.
🔔 Boehringer Ingelheim is continuing to explore its newfound enthusiasm for eye health, penning a $1 billion biobucks pact with Re-Vana Therapeutics Therapeutics.
🔔 Chinese biotech company Leads Biolabs has hit the Hong Kong stock exchange, snagging $189 million through an initial public offering on the HKEX.
#medicaldevices #biotechnology #healthcare #drugdiscovery #therapeutics
