February 23, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. said Sunday it would buy Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for about $10 billion, a return to its big deal-making ways after a failed bid for Botox maker Allergan Inc. last year. Quebec-based Valeant said it would pay $158 a share in cash for Salix. That is just above Friday's closing price of $157.85 for the Raleigh, N.C., drug company's shares, which had risen recently on reports of a potential deal. The deal will take Valeant into a growing, multibillion-dollar market for drugs treating stomach disorders like traveler's diarrhea. Valeant estimates the overall U.S. market for stomach-disorder treatments is $5 billion and growing 5% a year, while Salix's sales are growing even faster than that.

February 23, 2015 - Pharmalot

Over the past year, both Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Salix Pharmaceuticals have made headlines, although not always for good reasons. Valeant spent months trying to acquire Allergan and, in the process, encountered criticism for making deep cuts in R&D. Salix, meanwhile, last fall revised wholesale inventory levels, which suggested demand was not as high as had been thought. Now, Valeant is paying nearly $10 billion for Salix. For Valeant, the deal is its first after failing to buy Allergan and moves the drug maker into a new market - treatments for stomach disorders. And Salix has a potential blockbuster - its Xifaxan antibiotic is up for FDA review in May for treating irritable bowel syndrome. Valeant, you may recall, largely markets drugs for skin and eye disorders.

Ferring buys drug delivery tech, launches Cortiment 

February 23, 2015 - Pharma Times

Ferring has signed a deal with South Korean group CTCBIO to acquire rights to its novel oral drug delivery technology for an undisclosed amount. Under the deal, which includes an up-front payment, milestone and royalty terms, the two companies will work together on developing prototype formulations for in-vitro and in-vivo testing, as well as the subsequent up-scaling required to manufacture the technology to meet worldwide good manufacturing practice (GMP) requirements.

February 23, 2015 - Pharma Times

Japan's Sosei has acquired Heptares Therapeutics of the UK in a deal that could be worth up to $400 million. The Tokyo-headquartered group is paying $180 million of that upfront to get hold of Heptares' medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), "a superfamily" of 375 receptors linked to a wide range of diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, ADHD, diabetes, schizophrenia and migraine. It has a number of partnerships in place for its StaR technology platform with the likes of AstraZeneca, Novartis, Merck & Co-owned Cubist, MorphoSys and Takeda.

February 23, 2015 - Fierce Pharma

Bayer is reportedly near a deal to sell its diabetes device business to KKR-backed Panasonic Healthcare for up to €2 billion ($2.3 billion). The proposed sale is part of the German drug giant's efforts to zero in on its more successful life sciences businesses; the company also plans to spin off its MaterialScience division

February 23, 2015 - Device Space

3M announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Polypore International Inc. to acquire the assets and liabilities associated with Polypore's Separations Media business for a total purchase price of $1.0 billion. Polypore's Separations Media business is a leading provider of microporous membranes and modules for filtration in the life sciences, industrial and specialty segments with trailing 12-month sales of $210 million as of Sept. 27, 2014.

February 23, 2015 - Bio Space

South San Francisco, Calif.-based Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced Monday that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company that will develop cancer drugs based on Rigel's portfolio of small molecule TGF beta receptor kinase inhibitors. "So far, Rigel has identified a large number of orally bioavailable, potent and selective small molecule inhibitors of TGF beta receptor kinases that have demonstrated in vivo efficacy, in preclinical animal models of cancer, consistent with an immune-mediated mechanism of action," said the company The company currently has multiple drugs in mid- or late-stage clinical trials. Those include fostamatinib, an oral spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor, which is in Phase III clinical trials for immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) and initiating a Phase II clinical trial for IgA nephropathy (IgAN); R348, a topical JAK/SYK inhibitor, in a Phase III clinical trial for dry eye in ocular graft-versus-host disease (GvHD).

February 24, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

As the prices of prescription medicines strain budgets, one California lawmaker wants to force drug makers to reveal their costs in a bid to provide some transparency to the pricing process. Specifically, the bill would require drug makers to report profits and various operational costs for any medicine that has a price tag of more than $10,000 a year. And these costs would have to be reported to the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, which would then compile an annual report that would be submitted to the state legislature and posted publicly online.

February 24, 2015 - Xconomy

After acquiring ViroPharma last year in a $4.2 billion deal focused on Cinryze, the Irish pharmaceutical giant Shire says it is following through on a four-year-old option that Exton, PA-based ViroPharma held with San Diego's Meritage Pharma. In a statement today, Shire says it has acquired San Diego's Meritage Pharma for $70 million upfront, with another $175 million contingent on meeting milestones in the development of a viscous oral drug for treating a rare esophageal condition that makes it difficult to swallow.

February 24, 2015 - Fierce Pharma

Takeda's CEO-in-waiting, Christophe Weber, has included emerging markets, along with oncology and gastrointestinal medicines, as one of three areas of focus for the Japanese drugmaker. He recently said he is ready to do some deals to capitalize on those areas, and now he has executed one that straddles two of those favorites. Osaka, Japan-based Takeda announced today that it would pay 300 million Turkish lira ($121 million) to buy a portfolio of 13 drugs from Neutec, one of the top drugmakers in Turkey. It said the baker's dozen of drugs include products for treating gastrointestinal conditions, as well as respiratory, metabolic and musculoskeletal conditions. The drugmaker said it expects to close the all-cash deal, which would reach the 300 million lira mark based on milestones, this quarter. Istanbul-based Neutec will continue to manufacture the products at its plant in Adapazari.

February 24, 2015 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

Novartis has signed an agreement to fulfil the conditions set out by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to move forward with its proposed $16bn acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline's portfolio of cancer-treatment drugs. Under the terms of consent agreement, the Swiss pharmaceutical company will divest all assets related to its BRAF and MEK inhibitor drugs to Array BioPharma to settle charges that the transaction, announced in April 2014, would likely be anticompetitive. According to a complaint, Novartis and GSK are among a small number of companies who are either developing or marketing a BRAF or MEK inhibitor, and two of only three companies marketing or developing a BRAF/MEK combination product to treat melanoma.

February 25, 2015 - Fierce Pharma

So far, the 2014 pharma deal blitz has continued right on into 2015. And cancer drugmaker Pharmacyclics could be the next company to keep it going. The California company, which boasts a market value of almost $15 billion, is exploring its options--and those include a sale, Bloomberg's sources say. While deliberations are still in the early stages, Pharmacyclics already reportedly has some big-name suitors circling, including Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. While a potential deal for the Sunnyvale-based company--which could draw bids as high as $17 billion or $18 billion, Bloomberg notes--would be the biggest in the industry so far this year, it's nothing the pharma giants couldn't swallow. And drugmakers may be eager to get their hands on Imbruvica, the blood cancer drug that last month scored its fourth FDA approval.

February 25, 2015 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

French pharmaceutical firm Ipsen has entered into option agreement to acquire 100% shares of UK's Canbex Therapeutics following completion of the Phase IIa trial of its orally active small molecule compound VSN16R, which is designed to treat spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). As part of the deal, Ipsen has paid €6m for the option to acquire Canbex at the completion of a Phase IIa trial under which the latter's present shareholders will be eligible to receive up to an additional €90m, including an acquisition payment, plus royalties on VSN16R.

February 25, 2015 - Device Space

Boston Scientific Corp could soon complete the purchase of Endo International PLC's American Medical Systems, a medical device company, for $2 billion, "according to people familiar with the matter, reported Reuters on Tuesday. The companies could finalize the deal "within a matter of weeks," the sources, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. They also cautioned that nothing is certain and the deal could still evaporate. Reports that Endo was looking to divest AMS first appeared in late August 2014. The rumored price tag of $2 billion is significantly less than the $2.9 billion Endo paid for AMS in 2011.

February 25, 2015 - Fierce Biotech

Texas-based Neos Therapeutics has rounded up $20.6 million to bankroll their late-stage regulatory work on extended-release formulations of a slate of ADHD drugs that is now being served up to regulators for review. Presidio Partners, Crabtree Partners, CAC LLC, Delaware Street Capital, Burrill Life Sciences Capital Fund III and Essex Capital Corporation all participated in the round, following a $15.5 million Series C last spring. The venture round comes just under a year since its last round, financing the newly filed NDA for its lead drug, NT-0102, a methylphenidate XR-ODT drug candidate. Two more candidates--an amphetamine XR-ODT and an amphetamine XR-Liquid Suspension--are being readied for NDAs of their own.

February 25, 2015 - Bio Space

Bayer HealthCare is betting on one of the companies it has been nurturing in its San Francisco life sciences incubator, saying Wednesday it will partner with Aronora, Inc. on a "strategic alliance" to manufacture the startup's cardiovascular AB-022 compound. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Aronora joined the incubator in September 2012 and is one of five companies in the 6,000-square-foot Mission Bay facility. Other startups there include ProLynx, which develops technology for drug conjugation, and Xcell Biosciences, which is focusing on primary cell technologies.

February 25, 2015 - Pharma Times

AstraZeneca has signed a collaboration with UK-based Orca Pharmaceuticals to develop drugs against a wide range of autoimmune diseases for which there is currently no safe, effective oral treatment. The three-year pact will centre around inhibitors of retinoic acid-related orphan nuclear receptor gamma (RORγ). Specifically, AstraZeneca notes that RORy helps to convert a population of immune cells (CD4+ T cells) into T-helper 17 cells which produce cytokines that drive the immune response. However, excessive activity of TH17 cells and other RORγ+ immune cells is linked to conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and psoriasis; Orca's lead programme is targeting the latter.

February 26, 2015 - Bio Space

Rumors are spreading that Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Pharmacyclics, Inc. may be looking for a buyer, with unidentified sources telling Bloomberg Wednesday that Johnson & Johnson and Novartis AG may be interested. Pharmacyclics markets Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), Waldenstr�m's macroglobulinemia (WM) and Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Designated a breakthrough therapy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Imbruvica is a first-in-class Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, which helps prevent B-cell activation. It appears to be particularly useful in the treatment of fast-growing cancers.

February 26, 2015 - Device Space

American medical equipment producer Cyberonics and Italian medical device maker Sorin will merge in the second-largest US/European deal done so far this year, the companies said Thursday, creating a new entity with a combined value of almost $3 billion. The new Cyberonics/Sorin marriage, tentatively dubbed "NewCo," will have pro-forma revenues of approximately $1.3 billion and is slated to be cash accretive to all shareholders from 2016, said Cyberonics Thursday. Sorin CEO Andr�-Michel Ballester will now become chief of NewCo. Houston-based Cyberonics has long coveted a foreign address so it can avoid high American corporate taxes, but executives at both firms insisted Thursday the deal was done primarily for strategic reasons, not for a so-called "tax inversion."

February 26, 2015 - Healthcare Finance

Catamaran Corp., an Illinois-based provider of pharmacy benefit management services and technology, on Thursday said it would acquire Healthcare Solutions for $405 million in cash. The agreement will boost Catamaran's presence in the workers' compensation market, CEO and Chairman Mark Thierer said in a statement.

February 26, 2015 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

India-based drugmaker Lupin has entered into partnership with Acceliant, a provider of advanced clinical trial data management solutions, to use its clinical trial platform for drug research programs. Acceliant platforms offer smooth execution of clinical data management activities such as database design, UAT and several report formats for business intelligence. These platforms give Lupin a collaborative environment that brings global research teams to work within a single shared environment. Acceliant CTO Ven Thangaraj said: "This is an excellent platform for us to showcase our eClinical suite of products that deliver end-to-end clinical trial data management solutions." Since 1999, Acceliant has been offering solutions in the clinical trial management space and it caters to the needs of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, CRO and non-profit drug research industries.

February 27, 2015 - Drug Store News

Diplomat Pharmacy on Thursday announced the acquisition of the specialty pharmacy BioRx. Details of the transaction, which is expected to close in March, were not provided. "Since we started BioRx in 2004, our goal has been to build the country's most patient-centered specialty pharmacy that focuses on chronic and complex therapies," stated Phil Rielly, BioRx cofounder. "Diplomat shares this focus and represents the right partner, at the right time, for us to continue our mission into the future. "We are very excited to expand Diplomat's infusion services with the acquisition of BioRx. The combined resources of both companies will make us much stronger and unique within the infusion services industry," commented Phil Hagerman, Diplomat chairman and CEO. "The specialty pharmacy market has evolved substantially over the last decade and this partnership will help Diplomat be even more prepared to grow and thrive in the years to come."

February 27, 2015 - Bio Space

Perennial fundraiser Chiasma Inc., an American privately-held biopharma company developing "orphan" drug octreotide capsules, has raised yet another infusion of capital, saying Friday it has finalized a $70 million Series E round from a constellation of investors, new and old. The current round includes new investors Rock Springs Capital and Sofinnova Ventures, an unnamed "blue chip public investment fund," as well as existing investors MPM Capital, F2 Capital, 7 Med Health Ventures, Abingworth and ARCH Venture Partners.

February 27, 2015 - Fierce Biotech

South San Francisco's Lyric Pharmaceuticals raised $20.4 million in first-round financing to support its work on a hush-hush gastrointestinal drug. The company, founded by biopharma veterans Dr. David Wurtman and Dr. M. Scott Harris, is at work on an in-licensed drug it believes can successfully treat GI disorders. So, what's the drug? Where did it come from? And which disorders? All that's staying under wraps for now, CEO Wurtman said.

February 27, 2015 - Fierce Biotech

Israeli-American biotech Chiasma has raised $70 million in Series E cash, moving on from an aborted collaboration with Roche and rolling toward FDA approval with a treatment for the hormone disorder acromegaly. With the money, Chiasma plans to file an FDA application for oral octreotide, a treatment for the rare disorder. The company expects to submit the drug next quarter and, if everything goes according to plan, launch it soon thereafter, using its latest fundraise to assemble a marketing team. Back in early 2013, Roche partnered up with Chiasma in a deal worth up to $595 million to get its hands on oral octreotide, but the agreement fell apart just after pivotal trials, with Roche COO Daniel O'Day saying his company based its decision on "some additional Phase III data" and "regulatory interactions." That left Chiasma with just a $65 million upfront fee and undisclosed fraction of Roche's promised milestone payments, forcing the biotech back to the well with its lead drug.