In sharp contrast with the biopharma industry, the med-tech industry has completed mergers and acquisitions worth a record amount in the first quarter of 2022, with the $63.7 billion combined value towering over every full year prior to 2021.
There’s a growing renewal of interest in CDK9 as a therapeutic target, including by two companies adding to the momentum with a $150 million deal. Sellas Life Sciences Group and Genfleet Therapeutics Inc. entered an exclusive license agreement granting Sellas rights to develop and commercialize the small molecule CDK9 inhibitor GFH-009 outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
There’s a growing renewal of interest in CDK9 as a therapeutic target, including by two companies adding to the momentum with a $150 million deal. Sellas Life Sciences Group and Genfleet Therapeutics Inc. entered an exclusive license agreement granting Sellas rights to develop and commercialize the small molecule CDK9 inhibitor GFH-009 outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Astrazeneca plc is selling its disease management platform Amaze to U.K. digital therapeutics company Huma Therapeutics Ltd. through a new collaboration agreement. The companies said they will work together to launch Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) companion apps for several therapeutic areas and accelerate adoption of decentralized clinical trials (DCTs). The partnership marks Astrazeneca’s first major deal in the digital health space.
As biopharma deal values climb, industry M&As are at a five-year low, not yet showing the pickup in 2022 that some analysts expected. BioWorld has recorded 330 deals, including licensings, joint ventures and collaborations, valued at $44.4 billion so far in 2022. That is a 41% increase in volume and a 31% increase in value over the same time frame last year.
Cansino Biologics Inc. has entered a development and commercial supply partnership with Aerogen Ltd. for an inhalable version of its COVID-19 vaccine, Convidecia, also known as Ad5-nCoV. Cansino will combine Convidecia with Aerogen’s vibrating mesh aerosol drug delivery technology to produce a consistent droplet size for optimal lung deposition.
Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. has acquired a 73% stake of Antejin Biotech Co. Ltd. in a merger and acquisition deal worth up to ¥4.006 billion (US$626.2 million) to expand its pipeline in the field of bacterial vaccines. To kick off, Shanghai-based Fosun purchased about 32.52% equity interest in Antejin from nine shareholders for about ¥1.108 billion in cash.
With a growing number of deals worth $1 billion or more, 2021 values are slowly inching past 2020’s record year, as mergers and acquisitions also move higher, indicating a potentially stronger second half of the year.
PERTH, Australia – Cynata Therapeutics Ltd. has regained rights to its Cymerus mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) product, CYP-001, for graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) from former licensee Fujifilm Corp., with the two companies negotiating a new partnership under which Fujifilm will manufacture the product.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. have negotiated a geographically-focused licensing deal to develop and commercialize JR-141 (pabinafusp alfa), a potential therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis type II, also known as Hunter syndrome.
