Building on the positive phase II results reported in June 2018 for pamrevlumab to treat pancreatic cancer, the first dose has been administered in Fibrogen Inc.'s phase III study in patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

South San Francisco-based Pliant Therapeutics Inc. CEO Bernard Coulie told BioWorld that Novartis AG was drawn to the $80 million deal in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) because other firms working in the integrin space "are very much focused on early stages of the disease, with what we call a metabolic approach. We are addressing with our compound, which is a pure antifibrotic, the late stage of the disease, [categorized as] F3 and F4, where most of the liver is already gone. We think that the real market will be there, because that's where health care costs go up" and where patients facing an increased mortality rate "need proper treatment rather than changing their lifestyle" while using something milder.

DUBLIN – Zealand Pharma A/S has up to now generated its pipeline of peptide drugs internally, but it has gone hunting in biotech's bargain bin to find its first externally sourced asset.

DUBLIN – Fresh from the recent FDA approval of its smallpox and monkeypox vaccine, Jynneos (smallpox and monkeypox vaccine, live, nonreplicating), Bavarian Nordic A/S has struck a deal with Glaxosmithkline plc to take on ownership of two commercial vaccines, for rabies and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), in return for €301 million (US$336 million) up front and up to €495 million in milestones. The two products are forecast to attain combined revenues of €175 million this year.

With Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s acquisition of Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. for about $930 million up front, Alexion expands and diversifies its pipeline into familiar territory – treating complement-mediated diseases. Blue Bell, Pa.-based Achillion is developing oral, small-molecule factor D inhibitors for treating complement alternative pathway-mediated rare diseases, including paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and C3 glomerulopathy.

HONG KONG – Insilico Medicine Hong Kong Ltd. has inked a two-program drug discovery collaboration agreement with Jiangsu Chia Tai Fenghai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (CTFH), of Jiangsu, China. The deal will focus on drug discovery and development for previously undruggable oncology targets through Insilico's artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled platform.

DUBLIN – Shareholders in Allergan plc voted with alacrity to approve Abbvie Inc.'s $63 billion takeover of the Botox maker at an extraordinary general meeting in Dublin Monday. Investors voted 99.64% in favor, with just .36% voting against. Although the outcome was never in any doubt, an unexpected, last-minute €572 million (US$631 million) charge on the transaction, courtesy of the Irish government, is likely to have swayed all but the most hardened holdouts to cast their votes in favor of the deal, lest Abbvie were to get cold feet.

The number of biopharma deals and mergers and acquisitions completed are on a downward slide quarter-by-quarter, although when taken as a whole, the industry in 2019 has completed as many transactions and is hitting a higher deal value than the year before, while M&A values are up by 32%.

The number of biopharma deals and mergers and acquisitions completed are on a downward slide quarter-by-quarter, although when taken as a whole, the industry in 2019 has completed as many transactions and is hitting a higher deal value than the year before, while M&A values are up by 32%.

DUBLIN – Shares in Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. doubled Thursday as UCB SA made a $48-per-share bid that values the company at about $2.5 billion, or about $2.1 billion net of Ra’s cash.