Entries by Uta Mommert

CRISPR patent deal for Bayer

Bayer is deepening its involvement in CRISPR with a licensing agreement for genome editing patents. Irish partner ERS Genomics holds the rights to the CRISPR/Cas9 tech from Emmanuelle Charpentier, one of the inventors.

€21.5m for Oxford stem cell spinout

Newly spun out company OxStem has raised £16.9m (€21.5m) to develop regenerative meds for the treatment of age-related disease. It is the largest financing for an Oxford spin-out – or any UK academic spin-out – to date.

€39m for neurodegeneration therapies

Swiss Genentech partner AC Immune has raised CHF42.7m (€38.6m) in order to advance its therapeutic and diagnostic product pipeline in Alzheimer’s disease. The news follows a recently announced R&D collaboration with Biogen.

Ipsen and Oncodesign partner in R&D

Ipsen is strengthening its ties to long-time development partner Oncodesign, a Dijon-based cancer treatment biotech. The French pharma is handing over the pre-clinical pharmacology for its oncology research programmes to Oncodesign.

US$471m for cancer research fund

Swiss bank Group UBS has raised US$471m (€412m) for the UBS Oncology Impact Fund, which was set up to invest in early-stage cancer treatments. The money raised by the fund, nearly half of which comes from investors in Asia, is the largest amount ever raised for such a cancer investment fund.

Argenx in cancer drug licensing deal

For up to US$685m (€606m), Dutch ArgenX has outlicensed its human antibody programme ARGX-115 to AbbVie. The pre-clinical immuno-oncology candidate targets a protein believed to contribute to immunosuppressive effects of T-cells.

Surviving the turmoil on capital markets

Early January saw a few indicators that stock markets might deliver some solid biotech results in 2016, even if it wasn’t destined to be a hallmark year for the industry. But then, in the weeks that followed, the situation began to deteriorate. Now it looks like European biotech companies might have to start coming to terms with a closing IPO window.

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