March 23, 2015 - Healthcare Finance

So far, 2015 is living up the hype when it comes to healthcare mergers and acquisitions, and the M&A activity is only expected to continue into the year. In fact, as the the first quarter of 2015 is about to close, the top deals in the sector have already totaled more than $64 billion, according to the Healthcare M&A Information Source by Irving Levin Associates.

March 23, 2015 - Healthcare Finance

Humana, the nation's sixth largest health insurer by membership, on Monday said it sold its subsidiary Concentra for $1.05 billion in cash to MJ Acquisition Corp., a joint venture between long-term acute hospital operator Select Medical Holdings and the private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. Select Medical Holdings is a publicly-traded network of 113 long-term acute care hospitals and 16 acute medical rehabilitation hospitals in 28 states operating under brand names like NovaCare. "Though Concentra's operations did not ultimately align with Humana's strategy as well as we had originally anticipated, we believe Humana and Concentra have gained valuable insights into consumer behavior over the past several years that will serve us both well moving forward," said Humana CEO Bruce Broussard in a statement. "We expect Humana will continue to invest in other primary care assets, including MSOs, as we continue to expand our integrated care delivery model."

March 23, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

Tenet Healthcare Corp. is nearing a deal to buy United Surgical Partners International Inc., as a number of hospital networks seek mergers amid sweeping changes in the U.S. health-care system.

March 23, 2015 - Device Space

Simplify Medical said it was recently acquired by Australian private equity shop M.H. Carnegie for an undisclosed amount, as it gears up for a U.S. clinical trial of its MRI-safe artifical cervical disc. "We invested in Simplify Medical because we believe they have a better option for treating patients in a growing market in spine. We are working with the company to accomplish their mission of providing non-metallic, MRI-friendly, anatomically appropriate cervical artificial discs to patients worldwide," M.H. Carnegie managing director Mark Carnegie said in a statement.

March 23, 2015 - Bio Space

Pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Company and Novartis AG were part of a group that backed startup Aeglea BioTherapeutics in $44 million in Series B financing, the company announced Monday. Founded in 2013, Aeglea is developing treatments for inborn errors of metabolism and therapies targeting tumor metabolism. The $44 million investment will be used to support the continued development of Aeglea's pipeline of engineered human enzymes that target diseases at the extremes of abnormal metabolism. By degrading specific amino acids in circulation, these novel enzymes are able to address inborn errors of metabolism characterized by excess amino acid levels and exploit abnormal amino acid metabolism in tumor cells. "New treatments for individuals with inborn errors of metabolism or hematologic and solid malignancies are urgently needed, and this financing enables us to advance our lead molecule into the clinical setting as well as pursue the preclinical development of our pipeline products to address significant unmet medical needs," said Aeglea Chief Executive Officer David G. Lowe.

March 23, 2015 - Device Space

OrthoSensor, Inc., the leader in Sensor-Assisted Surgery, announced today that it has raised $19 million in a private placement of Series C Preferred Stock. Bridger Healthcare, Ltd. and The Tullis Growth Fund, L.P. participated in the round. The proceeds will be used to drive the commercialization of VERASENSE, OrthoSensor's leading product, and expand product development activities.

March 23, 2015 - Fierce Biotech

ImmunoGen has struck a $440 million antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) licensing deal with Takeda, moving it a step closer to recovering from the body blow of last year's Phase III flop. The heavily backloaded deal was cheered by investors, sending ImmunoGen's stock up 21% in premarket trading. Waltham, MA-based ImmunoGen will receive $20 million from Takeda upfront in return for exclusive rights to use its ADC technology against two undisclosed cancer targets. Progress against each target is tied to $210 million in milestones, putting ImmunoGen in line to rake in $440 million plus royalties if both programs succeed while Takeda foots the bill for development, manufacturing and marketing of any resulting products. Takeda also has the right to license the ADC technology for use against a third target for an additional upfront fee.

March 24, 2015 - Fierce Biotech

Thomson Reuters is predicting a big year for blockbuster drugs. Its analysts forecast 11 drugs approved this year will go on to rack up blockbuster sales in 2019, with new treatments from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi and Novartis leading the pack. The top three drugs on the list are going after indications with big populations, namely cancer, high cholesterol and heart failure. Bristol's PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo is tipped to comfortably outsell the rest of the class of 2015. Thomson Reuters forecasts Opdivo sales will total $5.7 billion in 2019, almost 30% more than Sanofi and Regeneron's hotly tipped anti-PCSK9 cholesterol fighting drug, Praluent. The $4.4 billion analysts expect Praluent to generate was enough to give it second place ahead of Novartis' heart failure drug, LCZ696.    

March 24, 2015 - Bio Space

Cambridge, Mass.-based startup Blueprint Medicines will take a run at the public market, filing an S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week to float a $100 million IPO hot on the heels of its recent $265 million partnership with Cheshire, Conn.-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., the company said Tuesday. Blueprint has banked around $115 million in venture backing and $10 million in debt since its founding in 2011, and said if its IPO goes as planned, it would list on the NASDAQ under the ticker BPMC. The company could not have picked a hotter time to go public-even if it has raised eyebrows by not listing longtime backer Fidelity Biosciences on its IPO funders list, perhaps because the company's stake is too small.

March 24, 2015 - Bio Space

Massachusetts-based cell therapy developer Semma Therapeutics announced on March 18 that it had closed a Series A financing round worth $44 million. The startup, which is headquartered in Cambridge, is also now in the process of hiring, according to the Boston Globe. At the moment, Semma is leasing laboratory space in Harvard University to conduct its research. MPM Capital, Fidelity Biosciences, ARCH Venture Partners and Medtronic, Inc. (MDT) led the financing round. Semma has also since entered an agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, although the startup has not disclosed details on its new deal.  

March 24, 2015 - Device Space

Osprey Medical Inc. has today announced it has received commitments for a heavily oversubscribed private placement of 30,800,000 CHESS Depositary Interests (CDIs) (representing 15,400,00 shares of common stock) at a price of A$0.53 per CDI to raise approximately A$16.3 million (Placement)." The CDIs that have been subscribed for under the Placement are available for issue under Osprey's placement capacity under ASX Listing Rules 7.1 and 7.1A.

March 24, 2015 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

Israel-based Can-Fite BioPharma has signed a distribution agreement with Canada-based Cipher Pharmaceuticals for the distribution of CF101, an A3 adenosine receptor agonist, designed to treat moderate to severe psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis in the Canadian market. As part of the deal, Can-Fite will receive an upfront payment of C$1.65m and is eligible for milestone payments of up to C$2m and royalties from product sales in Canada. In addition, the agreement will see Can-Fite deliver finished product to Cipher. Can-Fite had recently completed a Phase II/III trial, designed to evaluate the efficacy of CF101 in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

March 25, 2015 - Bio Space

An accounting error made by a third party widely assumed to be Botox maker Allergan Inc. would have had Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. acquired last year for $205 per share, instead of the $173 per share price for which Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. acquired it, a new account of the deal from Salix revealed Wednesday. "In a full history of the ups and downs Salix faced over the past 18 months, the company disclosed that Allergan Inc. offered as much as $205 per share in cash, something that would have valued the deal at more than $13 billion, or 18 percent higher than the $11.1 billion in cash that Valeant agreed to pay," the Triangle Business Journal reported this week.

March 25, 2015 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

Regen BioPharma has expanded its research capacity with the acquisition of new laboratory facilities in La Jolla area of San Diego, California, US. The new laboratory space, located within the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, provides Regen with access to molecular and cellular biology facilities critical to its cancer stem cell research. The company has already started experimental studies in the new laboratory with an initial focus on performing pre-clinical experiments whose objective is the advancement of its cancer stem cell and telomere therapeutic pipeline.

March 25, 2015 - Bio Space

Malin PLC, a newly established Irish medical investor group which has its roots in Elan Corporation PLC, has picked up $350 million in its initial public offering, the Triangle Business Journal reported Wednesday. As of Wednesday the company is trading on the ESM market of the Irish Stock Exchange, under the ticker "MLC".

March 25, 2015 - Fierce Biotech

Cellectis, a French company with a proprietary spin on one of biotech's hottest fields, made an up-sized debut on Wall Street, grossing more than $228 million. The company, headquartered in Paris, priced 5.5 million American shares at $41.50 each, setting aside another 825,000 for its underwriters to set its maximum deal value above $260 million. Cellectis has been steadily raising its target since first revealing its IPO ambitions last month, and the biotech's Nasdaq debut brought in nearly double what it previously sought.

March 25, 2015 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

Biohaven Pharmaceutical has entered into an exclusive world-wide agreement with Catalent Pharma Solutions for its Zydis Orally Disintegrating Tablet (ODT) technology to be used in the development of Biohaven's lead drug development candidate, BHV-0223. Canada-based Portage Biotech holds 54% equity of Biohaven, a privately-held biopharmaceutical firm engaged in the identification and development of clinical stage neuroscience compounds targeting the glutamatergic system. Catalent's Zydis technology is a freeze-dried, oral solid dosage form that disperses instantly in the mouth with the need of water.

March 26, 2015 - Pharma Times

Sun Pharmaceutical has completed its $4-billion merger with Ranbaxy, strengthening its position as the world's fifth largest specialty generic pharmaceutical company and top-ranking Indian pharma. The combined entity will have operations in 65 countries, 47 manufacturing facilities across five continents, and will generate revenues of an estimated $4.2 billion.

March 26, 2015 - Fierce Pharma

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories is eyeing deals as big as $1 billion to build up its portfolio of higher-end products, including generic injectable drugs, and expand its footprint in emerging markets. The Hyderabad, India-based company is scouting for a range of products and buyouts--everything from dermatology and migraine treatments to new drug delivery systems and nanotech. It's also eyeing deals that would build up its presence in Latin America, CEO G.V. Prasad told Bloomberg. Dr. Reddy's is up for a set of small acquisitions or bigger deals worth as much as $1 billion, Chief Financial Officer Saumen Chakraborty added. "I think in the next two years it will be very important for us to make some good moves on inorganic growth," Chakraborty said.

March 26, 2015 - Bio Space

Synergy Pharmaceuticals, maker of drugs for gastrointestinal disorders, may be up for sale, Bloomberg Business news reported this afternoon. Potential sales news has positively impacted the company's stock, which was trading as high as $4.40 per share today, up from its Wednesday close of $3.83 per share, a 9 percent bump. Trading has settled somewhat, with the stock now trading at $4.04 per share.

March 26, 2015 - Outsourcing Pharma

Global CRO Parexel has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-owned, Chandigarh, India-based Quantum Solutions India, a provider of specialized pharmacovigilance services.

What does Merck's $10B buyback plan say about pharma M&A?

March 26, 2015 - Fierce Pharma

Adding $10 billion to its stock buyback program might mean Merck & Co. wants to keep investors happy as its sales continue to shrink. That would be the typical explanation. But The Wall Street Journal sees a different possibility--one the rest of the industry might want to pay attention to. Merck spent $6.5 billion on buybacks last year--almost as much, the WSJ notes, as it laid out on R&D. From 2012 to 2014, in fact, Merck laid out $17 billion on its own shares, according to a company presentation.

March 26, 2015 - Bio Space

Boston-based Gelesis announced today that it had closed an equity financing round for $22 million. Gelesis focuses on a pill, Gelesis100, for weight loss. The capsule contains tiny hydrogel particles that once swallowed, expand in the stomach, simulating a feeling of fullness. Taken with water, the gels absorb water and grow to about 100 times their original size. Once in the large intestine, the water is released and reabsorbed by the body. On Jan. 9, 2015, the company began a six-month clinical trial of 168 overweight and obese patients, including patients who are type 2 diabetics and prediabetics. The study is being conducted at 10 sites in the U.S. and Europe

March 26, 2015 - Pharmaceutial Business Review

US-based biotechnology firm Signum Dermalogix has out-licensed SIG990, a new anti-inflammatory compound, to Dermata Therapeutics for the development of a topical product to treat patients with rosacea, a chronic skin condition. SIG990 is claimed to have the potential to both reduce erythema and decrease the papules and pustules associated with the disease. The company has already secured approval for its investigational new drug (IND) application for SIG990 from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As part of the deal, Dermata has secured an exclusive worldwide license to SIG990 and is also responsible for the clinical development of the product.

March 27, 2015 - Forbes

There is a general view that Big Pharma companies are unduly successful. When the BBC argues that the industry is way too profitable and overcharges for new medicines, people accept this as fact. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a potential candidate for the U.S. Presidency, says that large drug companies have grown "wealthy beyond imagination", most nod their heads in agreement. These types of statements paint Big Pharma as a profit making machine that needs to be controlled like Wall Street and Big Oil. However, facts can get in the way of such arguments. Recently, Tracy Staton of FiercePharma published a list of "The top 15 pharma companies by 2014 revenue" and the data presented are pretty surprising. The list contains all of the traditional Big Pharma players: J&J, Novartis, Roche, Pfizer, Sanofi, Merck, GSK, AstraZeneca, Bayer, AbbVie, Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as some relative new comers: Gilead Sciences, Teva, and Amgen. These 15 companies amassed 2014 sales of just under $527 billion. That sounds pretty impressive. However, these same companies had 2013 sales of about $514.5 billion, and so the year on year growth was only 2.4%. (It should be noted that these revenues represent the total income that each company had across all of its businesses and not just drug sales.)

March 27, 2015 - Fierce Biotech

Shire is an acquisitive company with a focus on rare diseases. BioMarin fits the same description. A blog post that, by its own admission, "might be codswallop," reported that the former is considering buying the latter. And those three facts combined to send the shares of BioMarin, far from a penny stock, up as much as 15% on Friday, illustrating how the biotech boom has changed Wall Street's perception of the drug industry. It began with a Thursday evening post on the financial blog Betaville in which Ben Harrington wrote that "top sources (and I mean top)" told him Shire had approached BioMarin about a deal, retaining Morgan Stanley and Lazard as it considered bidding on the roughly $18 billion company. Then, Friday morning, Deutsche Bank analyst Robyn Karnauskas, among the sector's most bullish observers, held a conference call to discuss BioMarin's value and outlined a hyperoptimistic scenario in which the company could be worth nearly three times its current value in a year or so.

March 27, 2015 - Device Space

Cardialen, a medical device company based out of the BioGenerator in the Cortex innovation district, has raised $1.52 million from a group of investors. The investor group includes the BioGenerator, Cultivation Capital Life Sciences fund, St. Louis Arch Angels, Twin Cities Angels, BELLE Capital, Heartland Angels, Lambda Fund Management and other private investors.

March 27, 2015 - Device Space

DePuy Synthes Companies has signed an exclusive worldwide sales agreement with Radlink, Inc., an emerging global leader in advanced medical imaging technology, to offer real-time image guidance with its hip replacement systems. The agreement further demonstrates DePuy Synthes Companies' ongoing commitment to help improve patient outcomes, increase patient satisfaction and reduce costs. The announcement was made in conjunction with the 81st annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) in Las Vegas. The agreement with Radlink provides DePuy Synthes Companies with exclusive rights to market the Radlink Galileo Positioning System™ (GPS) featuring Surgeon's Checklist™ for use with DePuy Synthes Companies' hip replacement systems.