January 26, 2015 - Bio Space

Dublin-based Actavis plc announced today that it has finalized an acquisition of London-based Auden Mckenzie Holdings Limited for $460 million. In addition to the cash, there will be a two-year royalty on a percentage of gross profits of one of Auden Mckenzie's products. "Auden Mckenzie is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the UK," said Actavis CEO and President Brent Saunders in a statement, "and the opportunity to combine this profitable and growing company into the Actavis UK business demonstrates our commitment to invest in and expand strategically in our global generics business." Actavis is a specialty pharmaceutical company that manufactures and markets generic and branded pharmaceutical products globally. It currently markets about 1,000 products in more than 60 countries.

January 26, 2015 - Device Space

USGI Medical�, Inc., a company pioneering incisionless procedures for weight loss, announced the closing of over $19.5 million in financing, bringing the total raised in the last year to $36 million in equity and debt. This funding provides USGI with the capital resources to extend the commercial launch of POSE (Primary Obesity Surgery, Endolumenal) in Europe and the Middle East and begin pre-commercialization activities for the procedure in the U.S., as the company completes the follow-up phase of its U.S. pivotal study known as ESSENTIAL, and prepares to submit an application to FDA for approval. This money will also fund the crossover study as part of the ESSENTIAL trial, health economics research and several important studies in Europe.

January 27, 2015 - Healthcare Finance News

Chicago-based Huron Consulting Group on Tuesday said it will buy Studer Group for $325 million in a move that will create one of the largest healthcare consulting groups in the field. The combined organizations will staff more than 1,500 healthcare professionals and will generate more than $904 million in annual revenue. The deal, which is slated to close in February, will merge Studer with Huron Healthcare, a division of Huron.

January 27, 2015 - Device Space

Xenex Disinfection Services, the world leader in automated environmental disinfection technology for healthcare facilities, today announced it has secured $25 million in new funding. The financing includes new participation from Brandon Point Industries Limited and continued investment from existing investors including Battery Ventures, Targeted Technology Fund II and RK Ventures. The financing will be used for product development, international expansion and increasing the company's U.S. sales force.

January 28, 2015 - Fierce Pharma

Hikma Pharmaceuticals is no stranger to buyout rumors. The Jordan-based drugmaker pops up often in deal talk, partly because of its sales and infrastructure in emerging markets. Now, there's another reason or two--its recent win on the gout drug Mitigare and its impending entry onto London's Financial Times Stock Exchange. New rumors, too. Hikma shares were up in London today on talk of a potential sale to Mylan, the U.S.-based generics maker, according to a brief in The Independent. Meanwhile, This is Money put up Big Biotech leader Amgen as a possibility.

January 28, 2015 - Bio Space

Shares of drug giant AstraZeneca PLC are up Wednesday on continued speculation that the company is considering a bid for oncology specialist Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARIA), a strategic move that its chief executive has said in the past would be a solid addition to its cancer pipeline in a competitive market. Wall Street has been buzzing since December that AstraZeneca was looking for a bolt-on acquisition sometime in the next few quarters, with Ariad and Hikma Pharmaceuticals named as the front runners. New rumors Wednesday that Ariad will receive a bid soon have revived that buzz, pushing AstraZeneca up in mid-morning trading before equalizing them at noon New York time.

M&A Is Our Top Priority for Cash, Stryker CEO Says 

January 28, 2015 - Device Space

The chief executive officer of U.S. medical device maker Stryker Corp, recently rumored to have been preparing a bid for British rival Smith & Nephew Plc , said on Tuesday that acquisitions are his top priority for spending cash, but he gave no hint that any sort of deal was imminent. The timing of acquisitions is unpredictable, Stryker Chief Executive Officer Kevin Lobo said on the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

January 28, 2015 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

US-based biopharmaceutical firm MacroGenics has closed the global collaboration and license agreement with Janssen Biotech for MGD011 to treat multiple b-cell malignancies. MGD011 is a humanized CD19 x CD3 bispecific DART protein being developed to treat B-cell hematological malignancies. As part of the deal, MacroGenics will secure a $50m upfront license fee and Johnson & Johnson Innovation has invested $75m with the purchase of 1,923,077 new shares of MacroGenics common stock at a price of $39.00 per share. Following submission of the investigational new drug (IND) application later this year, Janssen will be fully responsible for developing MGD011.

January 29, 2015 - Bio Space

Boston biotech darling Flex Pharma has upped its highly anticipated initial public offering size, saying Thursday it will boost the amount it wants to raise by 40 percent, from $60 million to $86 million, as it attempts to take advantage of a booming market for biotech IPOs. The revised filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Flex will price its shares at $16, a major hike from the $12 to $14 listed in its original filing, and will offer 5.4 million shares instead of 4.6 million. It has said it will use the money to begin clinical trials for its neuromuscular dietary supplements, an approach to anti-cramping therapy that has athletes sitting up and taking notice. Flex Pharma was launched less than a year ago but has become a favorite with investors from the sports world's inner circle, including Kraft Group, which owns the New England Patriots, and the owners of the Boston Celtics Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca.

January 29, 2015 - Device Space

BioNano Genomics said in a regulatory document that it raised $68.4 million in a financing round. A spokesperson for the San Diego-based genomic mapping company told GenomeWeb that the amount includes a total of $53 million that BioNano raised in its Series C financing round. The funding will be used to expand the firm's commercialization efforts, develop and launch a next-generation system, and establish BioNano's diagnostics roadmap, "including readiness of a cytogenetics assay," she said. The company declined to name the investors, but in a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, it said that there were 17 participants in the financing round.

Valeant in Deal to Buy Prostate-Cancer Drug Provenge From Dendreon 

January 30, 2015 - Wall Street Journal

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. said late Thursday it has reached a tentative deal to buy the prostate-cancer drug Provenge and other assets from Dendreon Corp. for $296 million in cash. Quebec-based Valeant said it has entered into a so-called stalking-horse agreement, which means it is the preferred bidder and the company would receive an unspecified breakup fee and reimbursed expenses if its bid doesn't win the auction for Dendreon's assets. A bankruptcy court also must approve Valeant's stalking-horse bid and the sale, Valeant said. Dendreon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.

January 30, 2015 - Bio Space

Paris-based Sanofi bought up shares of Cambridge, Mass.-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals on Jan. 26, sparking rumors of all out acquisition to come. The average price at deal time was $2,240.11 per share for a total of $1,889,978,566.89. Alnylam develops therapeutics based on RNA interference, or RNAi. Most recently, on Jan. 11, 2015, the company reported promising results in a Phase I study of ALN-AT3 for the treatment of hemophilia. The company announced on Jan. 20, 2015 its underwritten public offering of shares to raise proceeds of approximately $450 million. They intend to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, with a focus on hitting its 2020 profile with three marketed products, and 10 RNAi therapeutic clinical programs, including four that are in late stages of development. Its three Strategic Therapeutic Areas, or "STArs," are Genetic Medicines, Cardio-Metabolic Disease, and Hepatic Infectious Disease.

January 30, 2015 - Fierce Biotech

Spark Therapeutics, at work on one-time treatments for rare diseases, pulled off a $161 million IPO, pricing above its range and keeping biotech's Wall Street hot streak rolling. The company, headquartered in Philadelphia, sold 7 million shares at $23 apiece, a price roughly 35% above the high end of its initial range. Spark has set aside another 1 million shares for its underwriters, putting it in line to gross about $185 million if they exercise their options. Spark has earmarked most of its potential proceeds for SPK-RPE65, an FDA-designated "breakthrough" therapy now in Phase III development to treat a group of vision-destroying ailments called inherited retinal dystrophies. Spark's pipeline also includes SPK-CHM, a treatment for the retinal disease choroideremia; and SPK-FIX, a Pfizer-partnered hemophilia B therapy.

January 30, 2015 - Device Space

Atlas Genetics Ltd, the ultra-rapid "test and treat" molecular diagnostics company, today announces the completion of a Series C financing, raising $20 million from a syndicate including existing investors and one new investor, RMI Partners. New investor RMI Partners is a global life sciences venture capital firm, the largest in Eastern Europe. Existing investors include Novartis Venture Funds, Consort Medical plc, Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc., LSP, BB Biotech Ventures and South West Ventures Fund. This newly announced financing follows on from the previously announced Series B fundraising of $25 million. Atlas develops ultra-rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests for infectious diseases. The io(R) system is at an advanced stage of development and is expected to be launched in Europe with the first test for Chlamydia later this year. The Series C investment will be used to accelerate the launch of the io(R) system, initiate US clinical trials, and expand the menu of tests available initially in the STI (sexually transmitted infections) and HAI (hospital acquired infections) markets.

January 30, 2015 - Bio Space

Global drug giant Pfizer Inc. has terminated its licensing agreement with much smaller biopharma Roche for its spinal muscular atrophy compounds without specifying a reason, putting the kibosh on a deal that could have been worth as much as $70 million. Pfizer and Repligen had been working on developing experimental drug RG3039, which has shown promising the a rare inherited disease which appears in around eight out of every 100,000 live births and gives most patient's only a two to three year lifespan. The companies said Friday that the agreement will be terminated effective April 26. The collaboration was originally signed in late 2012 and gave Repligen $5 million upfront, with a possible $64 million more under the terms of the deal, not including royalties for any marketed compounds.

January 30, 2015 - Device Space

Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. announced it has entered into an exclusive agreement with commercial-stage diagnostics company Quotient Limited to distribute and sell Quotient's transfusion diagnostics platform MosaiQ™. "We believe this strategic relationship with Quotient for the innovative MosaiQ™ technology has the potential to bring completely new solutions to the global transfusion diagnostics market" MosaiQ™, which is currently in development, is being designed with Quotient's proprietary technology platform. This technology promises to allow improved time to test results and more comprehensive matching of donor and patient blood, beyond what is available in current transfusion diagnostic instruments.