Symphogen inks $330M collaboration pact with Genentech

John Carroll — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:15:13 -0400

Denmark's Symphogen has inked a $330 million collaboration deal with Genentech to discover new antibodies for three infectious disease targets. Symphogen gets an undisclosed equity investment as well as an undisclosed upfront payment, which will be used to fund a lead program in a mid-stage trial. Genentech gets a worldwide license on the developed candidates and will fund related R&D costs. The pact is a coup for Symphogen, which has smaller deals in place with Sweden's Biovitrum AB and Japan's Meiji Seika Kaisha.

According to a report in BioWorld, Symphogen has developed a rapid process for cloning antibodies as well as a more efficient manufacturing process.

"This deal underscores our belief that Symphogen's technologies offer a valuable approach to create next-generation therapeutics that address critical unmet medical needs in the treatment of serious infections," said Kirsten Drejer, Ph.D., CEO of Symphogen.

- check out the press release
- read the story from BioWorld

Biovitrum AB cuts staff as it restructures R&D ops

Thu, 15 May 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Sweden's Biovitrum AB has restructured its R&D operations, winnowing out about 100 people either through layoffs or by reassigning them to other work. Biovitrum says it will focus on specialist care pharmaceuticals and "is in the process of out-licensing a majority of the company's primary care projects."

- read the Biovitrum release for more info