Business
Next year will see plenty of deals in the biopharma space and a growing number of them will come from China, attendees at the Jefferies London Healthcare Conference heard.
Novo Nordisk learned from missing analysts’ estimates after its second-quarter report but Eli Lilly was caught this time round. Meanwhile, a falling tide grounded all ships after the US election.
The company is trading below cash after admitting that an adverse event in a Rett syndrome trial left a patient critically ill.
Astellas's C5 inhibitor faces another approval challenge, this time for a supplemental filing in the US, following the withdrawal of a European submission, although it continues to do well in what is its only market so far.
Sun and other major Indian firms outline how things are shaping up for products and manufacturing in China - while it’s a mixed bag, the wider outlook is upbeat. M&A and GLP-1 plays were among other key areas discussed during Q2 earnings.
After completing due diligence, private equity firm Brookfield is reportedly close to launching an offer of €10.50 euros per share to acquire the Spanish major. Given that at least one investor believes Grifols is worth at least €20 a share, sparks could fly.
Among the major topics at the conference this week will be the impact on global biopharma of the upcoming Trump administration, frenetic activity in the obesity field, and hopes of increased funding for UK biotech companies.
In this week's episode: muscling into the obesity market; AbbVie’s schizophrenia failure; Bayer will not take risky bets; generally strong Q2 for Japanese majors; and AstraZeneca juggles China and growth questions.
Public Company Edition: President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services is seen as raising the potential for regulatory risk. Also, Geron revealed up to $375m in royalty and debt financings, while Zai Lab grossed $200m in a FOPO.
Scrip’s Joseph Haas discusses biopharma M&A topics such as why deal activity declined during Q2 and Q3 with Gerardo Ubaghs of Frontier Medicines and Jason Silvers of Generate Biomedicines
The US firm wants to hook up with the German group to create a global innovative services company but its €11.00 per share cash offer looks unlikely to sway Evotec shareholders.
Indian firms Lupin and Aurobindo lay out global plans for GLP-1 agonists, as Aurobindo also updates on its biosimilar ambitions as they report results for fiscal Q2.
The biotech anticipates treating 74 patients with its gene therapies this year, with 30 more already scheduled for 2025.
Plus deals involving Nippon Shinyaku/Atsena, Daiichi Sankyo/Alteogen, Santen/Arctic Vision, Henlius/SVAX, Nxera/Antiverse, Y-mAbs/Nobelpharma, Formosa/DAVI, Mochida/United Therapeutics, GSK/Chimagen and GC/Novelty Nobility.
The company will in-license LM-299, gaining a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody that could help it defend its blockbuster PD-1 franchise against looming competition.
Drug development costs shrank thanks in part to trial failures.
Yuhan eyes successors to lazertinib after US approval, leadership dispute at Hanmi drags on and SK Bioscience completes CDMO acquisition.
Private Company Edition: TRexBio’s series B venture capital round will fund initial clinical trials for TRB-061, a TNFR2 agonist. And in addition to mega-rounds from Trace, Alentis and Metsera, Evommune and Axonis raised $115m each, while Elektrofi completed a $112.5m series C.
After emerging with $290m in April and announcing Phase I data for its lead asset in September, Metsera raised another $215m to fund clinical trials for three obesity drug candidates.
The German group is doubling down on the hot PD-(L)1 x VEGF-A bispecific space but will still have to contend with Summit and Akeso’s more advanced rival.