Entries by Thomas Gabrielczyk

CDPQ acquires stake in Sebia

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) is set to acquire a minority stake in diagnostic electrophoresis player Sebia Group from private equity investors Astorg and Montagu.

Swiss Roivant bags US$1.1bn financing

Serial drug licensee Roivant Sciences GmbH (Basel) has cashed in US$1.1bn (€937m) in an equity financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund and co-financed by existing investor Dexcel Pharma.

LEO orders Hitgen to discover new leads

In a multi-year collaboration with LEO Pharma A/S, Chinese Hitgen is poised to discover novel small molecule leads for multiple therapeutic targets chosen by the Danish skin treatment specialist.

Vernalis receives next veto by FDA

British biotech company Vernalis has to deal with another Complete Response Letter by US authority FDA – this time regarding the New Drug Application for its cough and cold treatment CCP-08.

Zealand taps US market

Danish diabetes biotech Zealand Pharma has started its initial public offering in the US at Nasdaq Global Select Market. It plans to raise US$75m to fund clinical trails.

Uniqure from now on alone

Italian pharma company Chiesi Farmaceutici withdraws from a co-development agreement with gene therapy pioneer Uniqure. This will add US$1.5m to Uniqure’s expenses this year.

Orphan drugs: Treating a rarity

Since US senators in February conveyed the impression that drug developers might have misused market monopolies related to orphan drugs (ODs) to overprice their compounds, the status has come under closer scrutiny. Neither the US nor Europe currently have consistent approaches for deriving value for OD therapies. Pooling expertise and scattered patient data across borders could help ease both diagnosis and development, providing a foundation for pricing and giving patients much faster access to treatments.