Eli Lilly ($LLY), Juno Therapeutics ($JUNO) and Pfizer ($PFE) struck deals with European biotechs. Lilly handed over $60 million (€53 million) to Germany's BioNTech to get an immuno-oncology collaboration started. BioNTech is in line for $300 million in milestones per program. Juno also rocked up in Germany to boost its process development and manufacturing capabilities. The CAR-T star paid around €70 million in cash and stock to acquire Stage Cell Therapeutics. Juno could pay a further €135 million if Stage's assets--which include early-stage drugs--succeed. Finally, Pfizer headed to the Netherlands to bag an option to buy sepsis biotech AM-Pharma for $600 million. Lilly | Juno | Pfizer
Neil Woodford joined with other prominent British life science investors to commit £210 million ($330 million) to a University of Oxford-focused spinout support company. The company--Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI)--is the contractually preferred partner of the university for at least the next 15 years, giving it privileged access to one of Britain's hotbeds of innovation. OSI may raise a further £90 million later this year. The Financial Times
Molecular Partners' (SWX:MOLN) wet age-related macular edema drug came through Actavis' ($ACT) takeover of Allergan unscathed. Actavis talked up the drug--which Molecular Partners licensed to Allergan in 2011--in its first quarterly results since closing the deal. A Phase III trial of the drug, called abicipar, is due to start around the end of the quarter. FierceBiotech
Selexis sold the milestones and royalties for more than 15 development programs to Ligand Pharmaceuticals ($LGND) for $4 million (€3.5 million) in cash. The deal gives Geneva, Switzerland-based Selexis upfront cash in exchange for possible earnings in the future, a trade off it also made in 2013 when it sold its rights to a similar number of programs to Ligand. Release
GW Pharmaceuticals ($GWPH) kicked off a Phase III trial of Epidiolex in people with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS). The 150-person, 14-week trial is part of an expanding Phase III program at GW designed to test whether Epidiolex can translate its promise in open-label studies into positive data in more rigorous research. GW expects to have top-line LGS data in early 2016, around the same time as studies of Epidiolex in Dravet syndrome are due to report results. Release
Redx Pharma (AIM:REDX) came good on its commitment to set up an immunology-focused subsidiary. The AstraZeneca ($AZN)-partnered British biotech first touted the plan while drumming up interest in its IPO earlier this year. Redx is using cash from the IPO--plus matching funding from a £4.2 million ($6.6 million) government grant--to set up the subsidiary at the former AstraZeneca campus at Alderley Park. Release