GlaxoSmithKline has in-licensed Janssen’s anti-IL-33R monoclonal antibody for severe asthma. The British drugmaker is paying €208m up front for the mAb.

In view of the Brexit, research academies across Britain are calling for a “bold commitment” from the government. The Royal Society President urges the UK government to underwrite the research of British scientists applying for EU funding.

Belgian molecular diagnostics company Biocartis Group NV has raised €55m and will use the funds mainly to expand manufacturing capacities for its PCR-based molecular diagnostics system Idylla.

Europe’s first gene therapy company has floated on Euronext: Gensight raised €40m in its IPO. And it is not the only French company that has taken the leap in an uncertain market climate – Alzheimer’s expert Pharnext also went public.

When NASA blasted off to the International Space Station on Monday morning, it had UK tech on board. A miniature DNA sequencer from Oxford Nanopore will be used to keep an eye on the ISS atmosphere – and may even analyse alien DNA one day. 

Cell Medica has acquired Swiss antibody specialist Delenex Therapeutics. The deal nets the British cellular therapeutics developer Delenex’ proprietory antibody fragment platform Pentrabody.

Vienna-based vaccine specialist Themis Bioscience GmbH has secured broad access to a promising virus vaccine vector tech by extending its license agreement with French Institut Pasteur. Its goal: to develop a Zika vaccine.

Californian biopharma Medivation has agreed to confidential negotiations with its suitors, in particular the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, which aggressively has buffeted the cancer therapy specialist for months.

The European Commission started an investigation into Illumina’s and Sequenom’s 2014 patent agreement, UK-competitor Premaitha Health said. The two US companies had agreed to pool their Noninvasive Prenatal Testing IP. 

Cinfa Biotech is shuffling for position on the lucrative biosimilar market. The Spanish-German company has published positive results in a study for a pegfilgrastim copycat with 172 healthy volunteers in Germany.