limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2. No financing details were disclosed.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL
—Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]) is paying $950 million cash up front to acquire Semma Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA, biotech that has a preclinical stem cell therapy for type 1 diabetes.
—Japanese drugmaker Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma will pay $3 billion for 10 percent of Roivant Sciences and five of its associated businesses. Sumitomo also gets an option to buy pieces of six other Roivant subsidiaries in the wide-ranging deal. Here’s more from Endpoints News.
—Five months after acquiring an IFM Therapeutics subsidiary, Novartis agreed to a research deal and buyout option with another IFM unit, IFM Due. Depending on the progress of the autoimmune and inflammatory disease research, Novartis could end up paying up to $850 million to acquire IFM Due.
—Cidara Thearpeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CDTX]]) got $30 million in cash and a $9 million equity investment from from UK-based Mundipharma for partial rights to its experimental anti-fungal medicine rezafungin.
COURTROOM TUSSLES
—A court within the US Patent and Trademark Office will hear Amgen’s challenge to three patents protecting eculizumab (Soliris), a blockbuster from Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALXN]]) approved to treat two rare blood diseases. The outcome could determine when Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) launches a biosimilar that competes with Soliris.
—Purdue Pharma is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection if it can’t settle more than 2,000 state and government lawsuits holding it responsible for the growing opioid crisis, Reuters reported. Purdue is trying to settle all cases ahead of the Oct. 21 start of a trial in Ohio. Damages of that trial alone would likely exceed the company’s $500 million in cash holdings, sources told Reuters.
—Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that multiple lawsuits targeting Purdue Pharma and other opioid makers, distributors, and pharmacies can proceed to trial, brushing aside defendants’ hopes of negating some of the claims against them.
CASH GRABS
—Vir Biotechnology set a $100 million target for its IPO, which it says will fund clinical development of its pipeline, including an experimental hepatitis B therapy in development with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]).
—Quebec, Canada-based Bellus Health (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BLU]]), which already trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, raised $70 million in its US stock market debut this week. Lead drug BLU-5937 is being developed for chronic cough and severe chronic itching called pruritus.
—Repare Therapeutics, which is developing cancer drugs based on the concept of “synthetic lethality,” raised an $82.5 million Series B round.
—British firm Achilles Therapeutics raised £100 million (US $121 million) to advance its T cell therapies for solid tumors.
—Passage Bio closed a $110 million Series B round to push its portfolio of gene therapies into clinical testing next year.
—Nkarta notched a $114 million fundraise for development of its off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell therapies.
—Vensana Capital raised $225M for its inaugural fund, which will invest in startups developing medical devices, diagnostics, and other medical technologies.
POLITICS & DRUG PRICING
—Pharma executives are pumping cash into campaign coffers of Republican senators, but they have abstained from funding Democratic presidential candidates or Donald Trump’s re-election effort, according to a Stat report.
—Michigan became the first state to ban flavored electronic cigarettes.
—Insurers Cigna (NYSE: [[ticker:CI]]) and CVS Health (NYSE: [[ticker:CVS]]) are working on payment plans for new gene therapies, the Wall Street Journal reported.
—The WSJ also named several candidates for the next FDA commissioner, including current acting commish Ned Sharpless, who has gained the support of four of his predecessors.
—The New England Journal of Medicine published three reports on Medicare policy, including an evaluation of proposals to redesign the Part D prescription drug plan.
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
—Former Alder BioPharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALDR]]) executive Randy Schatzman was tapped as the new Bolt Biotherapeutics CEO… Genfit (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GNFT]]) promoted Pascal Prigent to CEO… Akouos appointed Gregory Robinson chief scientific officer…Manmeet Soni joined Reata Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RETA]]) as chief financial officer… Shakti Narayan left Tango Therapeutics to become CEO of Accent Therapeutics… Nihar Bhakta was appointed chief medical officer of Aristea Therapeutics… and Synlogic (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SYBX]]) welcomed Richard Riese as chief medical officer and also announced that CFO Todd Shegog will leave later this month.
Ben Fidler and Alex Lash contributed to this report.
Photo by Depositphotos
