Acquisitions, licensing deals, and companies emerging from stealth mode made up the New England life sciences news this week.
—My colleague Arlene took a closer look at the Alzheimer’s drugmaker Satori Pharmaceuticals, which last week scored a $15 million venture funding round. Cambridge, MA-based Satori is looking to an unusual source to develop Alzheimer’s drugs: the flowering herbaceous plant black cohosh, which is most commonly marketed as a nutritional supplement to relieve menopause symptoms such as hot flashes.
—We reported on two big Boston-area acquisitions: Waltham, MA-based Alere’s $270 million-plus acquisition of the toxicology screening tech company eScreen, and Japan-based Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma’s acquisition of Boston Biomedical, a maker of drugs targeting cancer stem cells.
—Lexington, MA-based Concert Pharmaceuticals could bring in more than $200 million through a licensing deal inked with Aliso Viejo, CA-based Avanir Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVNR]]) surrounding its drug that aims to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders.
—Boston-based TremRx emerged from stealth mode to shed light on its method of using immune cells in the skin to rally the body’s disease-fighting defenses. The company is targeting vaccines for illnesses that range from cancer to viruses like hepatitis C.
