October 10, 2019 - BioPharma Dive
Reata Pharmaceuticals said Thursday it will pay AbbVie $330 million over the next two years to re-acquire most of the ex-U.S. rights for its leading drug candidates.
In 2010, AbbVie, then still a part of Abbott, paid $450 million for those international rights to bardoxolone methyl along with other experimental compounds in an R&D deal. Now, Reata will hold nearly worldwide commercialization rights for its lead drugs, with the exception of Asian markets for bardoxolone, which the company licensed to the Japanese pharma Kyowa Kirn in 2010.
October 10, 2019 - Fierce Biotech
UCB Pharma has struck a $2.5 billion (€2.2 billion) deal to
acquire
Ra Pharmaceuticals. The takeover will give UCB control of a phase 3 rival to Alexion’s Soliris that some analysts have tipped to rack up blockbuster sales.
Ra is focused on a once-daily, self-administered, subcutaneous C5 inhibitor called zilucoplan. The peptide moved into phase 3 in myasthenia gravis earlier this month on the strength of midphase data suggesting it may pose a threat to Alexion’s claim on the indication and its broader stranglehold on the market for complement-mediated disease therapies.
October 10, 2019 - Outsourcing Pharma
Insilico Medicine will use its next-generation AI platform to accelerate CRFH’s drug discovery and development efforts – a deal that exemplifies maturation in the market as researchers explore new ways to conduct R&D.
October 9, 2019 - Fierce Biotech
Bayer has entered into a drug discovery
collaboration
with Riken Innovation. The agreement will give Bayer the chance to explore drug targets based on research at a leading Japanese scientific research institute.
Riken Innovation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese research institute from which it takes its name. The institute, called Riken, employs more than 3,000 researchers and has an annual budget of close to $900 million. Riken Innovation, which began operating last month, will work to bring the benefits of its parent organization’s research to the public by collaborating with industry.
October 9, 2019 - BioPharma Dive
Novo Nordisk and Bluebird bio
will collaborate
to develop genome editing treatments for genetic diseases, citing specifically the bleeding disease hemophilia as a target disorder. The two companies did not disclose terms of their agreement.
The three-year deal will focus initially on one-time treatments correcting mutations causing deficiencies in clotting Factor VIII, which causes hemophilia A. Novo Nordisk's marketed product NovoEight treats this condition by replacing Factor VIII with an infusion as often as every other day. Novo's portfolio of hemophilia treatments are under pressure as Roche's Hemlibra, which can be dosed monthly, takes market share in hemophilia A. Potentially one-time gene therapies using viral vectors, meanwhile, are advancing into late clinical development.
