Deals
In this episode of Denatured, Jennifer C. Smith-Parker speaks to Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO of Circio and Jacob Becraft, Co-founder and CEO of Strand Therapeutics. They discuss how post-COVID, emerging platforms like circular and logic circuit RNA are expanding the field’s therapeutic horizons.
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Henry Gosebruch, who has $3.5 billion in capital to deploy, is thinking broad as he steers the decades-old biotech out of years of turmoil.
Speaking on the sidelines of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Novo business development executive Tamara Darsow said the company is gunning for obesity and diabetes assets.
Buying vaccine biotech Dynavax was an easy choice for Sanofi despite anti-vaccine moves by the Trump administration.
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Novo Nordisk strikes another deal, this time with Omeros, amid a broader pipeline restructuring that recently claimed its cell therapy work.
Bristol Myers Squibb and insitro first partnered in 2020 to develop induced pluripotent stem cell models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. Last December, BMS exercised its option for an ALS target.
The acquisition will give BioCryst an investigational injectable drug for hereditary angioedema, potentially complementing its FDA-approved oral drug Orladeyo.
AviadoBio will have the option to exclusively license UGX-202, a vision-restoring gene therapy for the rare eye condition retinitis pigmentosa.
Novo will add Akero’s efruxifermin to its MASH portfolio, which includes Wegovy after the GLP-1 gained an FDA nod in the indication earlier this year.
The centerpiece of the deal is orelabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor in late-stage development for multiple sclerosis that Biogen once paid $125 million for but abandoned after less than two years of testing.
Takeda wanted to create something new in the cell therapy world by combining the technology with T cell engagers. A series of acquisitions in 2021 started the process.
Regulatory documents show how 89bio’s board pushed Roche hard for a deal valued at $20 per share in upfront and milestone payments.
J&J still holds the top deal of the year by value with its $14.6 billion buy of Intra-Cellular in January, but the next four biggest acquisitions came in the past four months.
The two most historically deal-conservative Big Pharmas have the most money to play with for a major M&A transaction, according to a recent Stifel analysis.