Today Stories

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced the successful completion of its acquisition of ARMO BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARMO). Lilly's tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of ARMO, at a price of $50.00 per share in cash, expired as scheduled on Thursday, June 21, 2018. As of the expiration of the tender offer, 27,542,054 shares of ARMO common stock were validly tendered and not properly withdrawn, representing approximately 90.6 percent of the shares of ARMO common stock outstanding, and have been accepted for payment under the terms of the tender offer. Following completion of the tender offer, Lilly completed the acquisition of ARMO through the previously-planned second-step merger. "We are pleased to announce the completion of our acquisition of ARMO BioSc…

AdoRx Therapeutics, a UK based drug discovery company focused on the identification of new cancer therapeutics, today announced that it has closed an initial $10 million investment round financed by Epidarex Capital and CRT Pioneer Fund ('CPF'). AdoRx was founded in 2017 by leading healthcare investor Epidarex Capital and has assembled a group of highly experienced pharma industry veterans led by Pete Finan, former head of the Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research UK site. The company will focus on the discovery of new modulators of the adenosine pathway for the treatment of cancer. Commenting, Pete Finan, CEO of AdoRx, said: "High levels of adenosine in the tumour enable cancer cells to evade the immune system. We have assembled a team that has discovered in excess of 25 clinical c…

Servier and Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. today announced clinical data from the pivotal Phase III trial (TAGS) for LONSURF® (trifluridine and tipiracil, TAS-102) which showed significant improvement in overall survival (OS) for the treatment of patients with refractory metastatic gastric cancer (HR=0.69 [95% IC 0.56-0.85], p=0.0003). The median overall survival in patients treated with trifluridine/tipiracil and best supportive care (BSC) was 5.7 months as compared to 3.6 months when treated with placebo and BSC, and they had a 31% risk reduction of death. At 12-months, OS rates were 21.2% in the trifluridine/tipiracil group and 13.0% in the placebo group. In addition, the risk for disease progression measured by PFS, a key secondary endpoint, was reduced by 43% (HR: 0.57).   The…

Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with HistoCyte Laboratories Ltd, Tyne, U.K., to be the exclusive multinational distributor of the company’s portfolio of cell line reference products for immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization.   “This collaboration gives customers a cost-effective and practical solution to the problem of tissue heterogeneity,” said Jean-Charles Wirth, head of the Applied Solutions business unit, Life Science at Merck. “These reference materials strengthen Merck’s pathology portfolio and provide a robust and standardized means for customers to achieve greater confidence in their analyses.”   Under the agreement, Merck will employ its sales, marketing and e-commerce expertise to distr…

Sanofi (Euronext: SAN; NYSE: SNY) and Ablynx announced today that Sanofi has now acquired all outstanding shares (including shares represented by American Depositary Shares ("ADSs")), warrants and convertible bonds (together, the "Securities") of Ablynx NV ("Ablynx") following the expiration of the Squeeze-out procedure.   The Squeeze-out period commenced on May 22, 2018, in accordance with applicable Belgian and U.S. law, following the acquisition by Sanofi of over 95% of the outstanding shares of Ablynx upon settlement of the initial acceptance period of its tender offer for Ablynx.   On June 12, 2018, upon expiration of the Squeeze-out period, 2,893,201 shares (including 7,163 shares represented by ADSs) and 8 convertible bonds of Ablynx were tendered in the Squeeze-out. …

“Grant to significantly advance Arecor’s proprietary co-formulation platform in the development of diabetes therapies that meet critical patient unmet needs”   Cambridge, UK., 18th June 2018: Arecor Ltd (“the Company”), a leader in developing superior biopharmaceuticals through the application of its proprietary and innovative formulation technology platform, ArestatTM, is pleased to announce that the Company, in collaboration with the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (“MIB”), has been awarded a £0.97 million grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to advance the Company's high throughput biopharmaceutical co-formulation platform.  (*The £0.97 million grant from Innovate UK equates to US$1.3 million based on exchange rates on Friday, 15th&n…

Pharmapacks, a leading e-commerce company with a proprietary technology platform that empowers brands to reach millions of consumers with a complete and cost-effective logistics, fulfillment, marketing and sales solution, today announced it has raised $32.5 million by selling a minority stake at an undisclosed valuation. The strategic round was led by multinational CPG company RB (LSE: RB) with additional investments from McKesson Ventures, Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) and The Emerson Group. Pharmapacks sells both direct-to-consumer through leading online marketplaces including Amazon, Walmart.com, and eBay among others, as well as on Pharmapacks.com. In addition to selling well-known everyday consumer goods, Pharmapacks serves as a "launch pad" for emerging brands by giving carefully sele…

Arjo, a market-leading supplier of medical devices and solutions, has entered into an exclusive partnership with Next Step Dynamics, a Swedish technology company specialising in predictive analytics, for development and sales of solutions for preventive healthcare. According to the terms of the partnership, Arjo has committed to spend SEK 70 M on development projects for solutions within the area of predictive analytics. “This partnership is very much in line with our digitalization strategy and offers a fantastic opportunity for us to develop innovations that can really make a difference for both the users and healthcare professionals, as well as for society in general, for example by reducing the cost of care,” says Joacim Lindoff. For elderly people, falling presents a high risk of in…

BridgeBio Pharma today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to acquire cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate (cPMP; ALXN1101), a synthetic enzyme co-factor therapy for patients with the ultra-rare disease caused by molybdenum cofactor deficiency (MoCD) Type A. In addition, BridgeBio announced that it was launching a new subsidiary, Origin Biosciences, with sufficient capital to support clinical development of ALXN1101 through potential regulatory approval and commercialization. MoCD is an ultra-rare autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism. The disease is caused by a mutation in the MOCS1 gene and leads to defective production of cPMP. Clinical signs of MoCD present shortly after birth and progress rapidly. Newborns with MoCD experience diff…

WebMD Health Corp., an Internet Brands company and the leader in health information services for consumers and physicians, today announced that it has acquired Jobson Healthcare Information (JHI), a leading provider of information, education and marketing services in key healthcare markets.   Owning brands that have been leaders for over 50 years, JHI has long been recognized for its diversified portfolio of healthcare information, education and marketing services targeted to a broad segment of the healthcare industry, including physicians, pharmacists and eye care professionals. Through its comprehensive product offerings and platforms, JHI can reach more than one million health care professionals. "JHI's commitment to delivering quality information and services to the healthcare i…

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) today announced that it has received a binding offer from Fortive Corporation (NYSE: FTV) to acquire its Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP) business, a division of Ethicon, Inc.*, for an aggregate value of approximately $2.8 billion, consisting of $2.7 billion of cash proceeds from Fortive and $0.1 billion of retained net receivables. ASP is a global leader in innovative infection prevention solutions with 2017 net revenue of approximately $775 million. "As we balance the interests of all our stakeholders to deliver the greatest value to customers, healthcare providers and shareholders, we must continuously assess strategic fit and explore alternatives for our businesses," said Shlomi Nachman, Company Group Chairman, Interventional Solutions and S…

Blueprint Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ: BPMC), a leader in discovering and developing targeted kinase medicines for patients with genomically defined diseases, and CStone Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company devoted to developing a new generation of innovative drugs, today announced an exclusive collaboration and license agreement for the development and commercialization of avapritinib, BLU-554 and BLU-667 in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, either as monotherapies or combination therapies. Discovered and developed by Blueprint Medicines, avapritinib, BLU-554 and BLU-667 are potent and highly selective investigational kinase medicines that have each demonstrated clinical proof-of-concept in genomically defined subsets of patients with cancer. Blueprint…

Admescope Ltd, a pre-clinical ADME-Tox service provider today announced the acquisition of MetaSafe AB, a company specialised in the field of metabolic biotransformation research. MetaSafe, based in Södertälje, Sweden, is a contract research organisation working with small, midsize and large pharmaceutical companies in the area of drug biotransformation/metabolism. MetaSafe is especially focusing on clinical phase drug metabolism studies from safety perspective, but also provides services for preclinical stage of drug development. Admescope, having the headquarters and laboratories in Oulu, Finland, will continue to operate MetaSafe’s business in Södertälje. This acquisition will strengthen Admescope’s drug metabolism services further to clinical phase projects, as well as gives the bene…

Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC today announced a five-year alliance with Boston University, an internationally recognized research university and member of the Association of American Universities, that will help accelerate the vision of creating a world without lung cancer.   As part of the alliance, a Johnson & Johnson Innovation Lung Cancer Center at Boston University will be established, allowing close collaboration between Boston University investigators and members of the Lung Cancer Initiative within Johnson & Johnson to work together to develop solutions that prevent, intercept and cure lung cancer.  Avrum Spira, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Bioinformatics, Boston University has joined Johnson & Johnson Innovation as Global Head, Lung…

Cyxone AB (publ) announced today that the company has decided to complete the acquisition of drug candidate Rabeximod and issue approximately 1.9 million shares to complete the payment to OxyPharma AB. Cyxone entered into an acquisition agreement with OxyPharma in June 2017 for the drug candidate Rabeximod and now chooses to complete the transaction. The deal has strengthened Cyxone's development portfolio with a candidate in clinical phase II program and broadened the company's portfolio in autoimmune diseases. Cyxone entered an agreement to acquire Rabeximod, a drug candidate in phase II development for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), in June 2017, with an arrangement that the company could choose to decide when the transaction would be completed, and payment will be paid under specific cond…

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNDX), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing an innovative pipeline of cancer therapies, and Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) today announced a non-exclusive, clinical collaboration to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Nektar's NKTR-214, a CD122-biased agonist, in combination with entinostat, Syndax's oral, small molecule Class 1 specific HDAC inhibitor, in patients with metastatic melanoma who have previously progressed on treatment with an anti-PD-1 (programmed death receptor-1) agent. Under the terms of the agreement, Syndax and Nektar will collaborate on a study to evaluate the combination. The Phase 1b portion of the trial aims to establish safety and a recommended dose for the combination regimen and will be followed by a Pha…

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Meridian Health Plan of Michigan, Inc., Meridian Health Plan of Illinois, Inc., and MeridianRx, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), (collectively, "Meridian") for $2.5 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2018, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Meridian expects to generate more than $4.3 billion in total revenue in 2018. As a result of this transaction, WellCare will diversify its Medicaid portfolio through the addition of Michigan, where Meridian has the No. 1 Medicaid market position; deepen its Medicaid business in Illinois; and acquire an integrated PBM platform. Meridian is one of the largest privately…

HCTec, a leading provider of healthcare workforce optimization solutions, announced today a multi-year electronic medical record (EMR) application managed services support agreement with Adventist Health.  HCTec is providing technical and clinical support for Adventist's EMR needs in its Oregon facilities.  Adventist Health, which operates primarily on a Cerner clinical and revenue cycle platform, has more than 50 ambulatory clinics that also utilize Epic software in the Pacific Northwest.  This partnership transfers EMR support operations for the ambulatory clinics to HCTec.  "Our application managed services division is on the forefront of this innovative model for EMR support," said HCTec's Founder and President William Bartholomew.  "We are excited to begin th…

Avara Pharmaceutical Services, a world-class contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), today announced that it has agreed to acquire the largest sterile manufacturing facility for injectable medicines in Canada from a leading global pharmaceutical company, as part of a continuing expansion of its global footprint. "This acquisition represents our first entry into the Canadian market and further expands our sterile processing capability, which is in very high demand," said Timothy C. Tyson, Avara's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "It comes with a world-class development center and a dedicated team of experts that will support us in delivering high-quality pharmaceuticals that meet or exceed customer expectations and regulatory requirements." The proposed acquisitio…

Eisai Inc. and Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the action date for the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for lenvatinib for the potential first-line treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The FDA has indicated that the extension of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date is needed to allow additional time for review of the application. The agency expects to complete the review on or before August 24, 2018, thus extending the target action date by a standard extension period of three months from the original PDUFA action date of May 24, 2018. Eisai, as the marketing authorization holder, is working closely with the FDA to suppo…