Mergers and acquisitions

News round-up for 9-13 January by DDW Digital Content Editor Diana Spencer. Once again, research partnerships and licence agreements have dominated the news this week, as drug discovery companies seek new ways to combine their expertise to address unmet medical needs.  The top stories:  Alliance to develop circular RNA-based therapeutics  Esperovax and Ginkgo Bioworks have agreed […]

Cambrian BioPharma has unveiled its latest pipeline company, Isterian Biotech.   The preclinical start-up is working towards the development of first-in-class small molecule inhibitors of transglutaminase 2 (TG2), one of the major crosslinking enzymes in the human body, which becomes more active during ageing, resulting in fibrotic diseases.  With age a chronic increase of crosslinked proteins […]

AstraZeneca has entered into an agreement to acquire CinCor Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on developing treatments for resistant and uncontrolled hypertension as well as chronic kidney disease.  As part of the deal, the company will acquire CinCor’s candidate drug, baxdrostat (CIN-107), an aldosterone synthase inhibitor (ASI) for blood pressure lowering in treatment-resistant hypertension.  […]

AmerisourceBergen Corporation has completed its acquisition of PharmaLex Holding, a provider of tech-enabled services from clinical development consulting to marketing authorisation.  PharmaLex is a global team of scientific, regulatory and safety and compliance (GxP) experts that provide strategic guidance and regulatory support to biopharma companies throughout a product’s lifecycle.  The acquisition of PharmaLex’s regulatory affairs, […]

As 2022 draws to a close, life sciences market analysts attempt to correctly predict what the next 12 months might bring to the drug discovery sector. DDW’s Diana Spencer summarises the key trends likely to impact the market in 2023.  1. There will be greater emphasis on diversity in clinical trials A focus on the representation of […]

Avista Capital Partners has acquired Taconic Biosciences, a provider of genetically engineered research models (GEMs), as it reaches its 70th anniversary.  Taconic specialises in genetically engineered research models and services, specifically murine models for use in drug discovery research and non-clinical safety testing.  The company has reassured customers that there will be no interruption or […]

Norstella and Citeline (formerly Pharma Intelligence) have merged to form a $5 billion global company, one of the largest pharma intelligence solutions providers on the market.  Norstella now has more than 1,500 employees across its five brands: Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo, The Dedham Group, and Citeline.  “We believe that patient access starts with identifying unmet needs and […]

Under an exclusive agreement, Jazz Pharmaceuticals will acquire development and commercialisation rights to Zymeworks’ zanidatamab across all indications and all territories except for those Asia/Pacific territories previously licensed by Zymeworks. Zymeworks will receive a $50 million upfront payment, a second payment of $325 million, at Jazz’s option, and further potential regulatory and commercial milestones up […]

Microbiome research company Clinical Microbiomics has acquired MS-Omics, a leading provider based in Denmark.   With this acquisition, Clinical Microbiomics hopes to further advance its systems biology platform and help researchers worldwide understand the microbiome and how to impact health and disease.    Anders Grøn, CEO at Clinical Microbiomics, commented: “There is an unmet need in the […]

BioIVT has acquired Fidelis Research, an 85-site clinical biospecimen collection network in Southeastern Europe.  Fidelis Research also possesses cell isolation capabilities and provides custom contract research services for pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organisations (CROs).  “This transaction increases BioIVT’s global operations by adding new clinical collection sites, which are predominantly hospital based, focused on oncology, […]