January 17, 2020 - Contract Pharma
WuXi Biologics
and
Bayer
have entered an acquisition agreement in which WuXi Biologics Germany GmbH will take over the operations of one of Bayer’s final drug product manufacturing plants in Leverkusen, Germany, and purchase the associated equipment, in combination with a long-term lease contract for the building.
Based on a manufacturing agreement to be negotiated, the plant would be operated by WuXi Biologics and serve as a back-up site for the final product manufacturing of Kovaltry, an antihemophilic factor (recombinant). The transaction is expected to be concluded in the coming months subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Financial details were not disclosed.
January 17, 2020 - BioPharma Dive
Eli Lilly expects to sign one deal worth between $1 billion and $5 billion per quarter in 2020, company chief financial officer Josh Smiley told Reuters, laying out an acquisitive strategy following its $1.1 billion takeover last week of dermatology specialist Dermira.
The pharma's focus will be on clinical-stage or "late preclinical" drugs that can round out its five core therapeutic business, which include oncology, immunology and diabetes, CEO David Ricks told investors Tuesday at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
January 13, 2020 - Fierce Biotech
Incyte is set to pay MorphoSys $750 million upfront for rights to anti-CD19 antibody tafasitamab. The licensing
deal
, which features a $150 million equity investment and up to $1.1 billion in milestones, gives Incyte a big stake in a near-approval asset that achieved CAR-T-like efficacy in lymphoma patients.
Tafasitamab, also known as MOR208, is the subject of a submission at the FDA in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that could see the drug win approval this year. MorphoSys began the filing after linking a combination of tafasitamab and Celgene’s Revlimid to overall and complete response rates of 60% and 43%, respectively.
MorphoSys is still running a study comparing tafasitamab to rituximab to see whether its drug can clear that tougher test and realize a more lucrative commercial opportunity. But Incyte has already seen enough to make a big bet that tafasitamab is the drug to end its wait for a new commercial product.
