Week of October 17, 2016 | Vol. 5, Issue 41
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Regeneron is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into troubled small cap Ocular Therapeutix as it looks to develop a new form of its blockbuster eye drug Eylea (aflibercept).
Regeneron and Bedford, MA-based Ocular Therapeutix have signed a "strategic collaboration, option and license agreement" to work on a sustained-release formulation of the vascular endothelial growth factor trap med Eylea in wet AMD, as well as other retinal diseases.
Eylea is already approved in the U.S. and across global markets, where it is co-marketed with German pharma Bayer for a host of eye conditions, with wet AMD chief among them. Eylea made U.S. sales of $2.6 billion in 2015.
The med works by intravitreal (in the eye) injection every month initially, and then every other month in wet AMD, and typically continues as long as the patient needs it.
This has long been a difficult administration route for patients and increases the risk of side effects such as inflammation; the whole point here is to create a new, easier route for the drug to be administered, lowering the need for patients to have a needle injected into their eye.
Any approval will however be some time off, as this is an early-stage formulation and currently in preclinical development.
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AstraZeneca snaps up Amgen's Colorado plant for $64.5M
Pharma giant AstraZeneca is shelling out $64.5 million for Amgen's facility in Longmont, CO, further expanding its footprint on the outskirts of Denver.
The company picked up Amgen's Boulder, CO, facility for $14.6 million a year ago and plans to begin using the Longmont plant to warehouse materials to support manufacturing operations there, Abigail Bozarth, a company spokeswoman, told the
Boulder Daily Camera.
"No additional decisions have been taken by AstraZeneca for product placement or investment at this time," Bozarth told the newspaper. "However, the Longmont site has the capability and infrastructure needed to support our future product portfolio."
The Longmont facility had been used to produce the anemia drug Epogen, which Amgen stopped producing at the plant in 2014. The site has been for sale since June 2015.
The Daily Camera
cited reports that Amgen may restart production of Epogen while waiting for its Thousand Oaks, CA, manufacturing facility to ramp up its operations.
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Below are summaries and charts with the past week's transactions from the different healthcare sectors. For a detailed table showing data for each industry transaction click on any of the charts or use the download link above. Total transaction values are provided in USD millions.
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Pharma & Biotech
11 transactions totaling $357
million
Supplies, Equipment & Services
21 transactions totaling $535 million
Healthcare IT & Managed Care
2 transactions totaling $112 million
Healthcare Facilities & Distributors
8 transactions totaling $192 million
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Pharma & Biotech
9 private placements totaling $176 million
Supplies, Equipment & Services
9 private placements totaling $125 million
Healthcare IT & Managed Care
7 private placements totaling $17 million
Healthcare Facilities & Distributors
3 private placement totaling $18
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Pharma & Biotech
6 public offerings totaling $2,095 million
Supplies, Equipment & Services
1 public offerings totaling $50 million
Healthcare IT & Managed Care
0 public offerings
Healthcare Facilities & Distributors
1 public offering totaling $- million
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 Each week, w
e provide updated trading
comps for leading comp
anies from numerous healthcare subsectors.
To the right you will see a high-level breakdown of median revenue and EBITDA multiples for each of the specific subsectors
For a complete trading comp analysis (including the individual equities that comprise the subsectors), click on the table to the right or use the download link from the top of this newsletter.
Note: data reflects prior week close.
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RECENT INDUSTRY HEADLINES
A Sampling of Relevant Industry Headlines from the Last Week
Below are snippets from relevant industry news articles from the past week presented in chronological order. For additional information or the article's complete text, click the headline link to view the original publication.
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October 13, 2016 - Fierce Pharma
Drugmakers argue that pricing stats are misleading because they don't account for rebates; like sticker prices on automobiles, they yield far less because of customer discounts.
Now, in a study funded by PhRMA, some top pharma number-crunchers find Medicare Part D pays an average of 35% less than list price on many commonly used meds.
Unlike Medicaid, where rebates are a set percentage, Medicare rebates and discounts are negotiated by drugmakers and the Part D insurers that cover their products. QuintilesIMS Institute delved into the numbers to estimate how big those rebates and discounts might be.
October 11, 2016 - Fierce Pharma
On the heels of crushing Phase III results for its pancreatic cancer candidate, NewLink Genetics has won a lifeline from the U.S. government. The biotech nabbed up to $76 million in BARDA funding to advance its Merck-licensed Ebola vaccine. Through an initial tranche, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will provide $24.8 million to prep the manufacturing process for the vaccine and to support clinical trials needed for a regulatory nod. Another $51 million in options could be awarded down the road.
October 11, 2016 - BioSpace
Zymergen, based in Emeryville, California, announced today that it completed a Series B financing round worth $130 million. The round was led by SoftBank Group, and includes previous lead investor Data Collective , and return investors True Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, DFJ, Innovation Endeavors, Obvious Ventures, and Two Sigma Ventures. New investors were Iconiq Capital, Prelude Ventures, and Tao Capital Partners. Zymergen uses robots and its proprietary algorithms to engineer bacteria to manufacture various industrial chemicals. Although the concept has been around for some time, what puts the spotlight on Zymergen is its automation. As Fortune magazine writes, "The company has a robot workforce to do things like stir liquid around in a petri dish while human scientists supervise thousands of robot-controlled trials in a given week. Zymergen then takes the data from these microbe experiments and uses a proprietary algorithm to sort through millions of different genetic combinations to guide the experiments and develop the best chemical."
AzurRX discounts $5M IPO as Accelerated Pharma files for $17M offering
October 12, 2016 -
Fierce Biotech
After a quiet summer, biotech IPOs are attempting to notch up a few more deals in the autumn, but things remain tough, as AzurRX gets off its IPO, but at a downsized offering, while Accelerated Pharma hopes to get off its proposed $17 million offering.
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As an international, healthcare-focused merchant bank and financial advisory firm, we provide world-class services and capital to middle-market healthcare companies around the globe. We aim to keep our clients well-informed of healthcare news and events. With this additional insight in mind, together, we can recognize trends and opportunities that benefit our clients. We hope that you will reach out to Bourne Partners to help execute your healthcare operational and transactional needs. To learn more about our firm, visit our website or utilize the links below to engage with us on social media.
Sincerely,
The Bourne Partners Team
Bourne Partners
550 South Caldwell Street
Suite 900
Charlotte, NC 28202
704-552-8407
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