EuroBiotech Report—Gilead-Galapagos, Alzheimer's fail, AM-Pharma and Abivax

Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly EuroBiotech Report. We start this week with news of a mammoth deal for Galapagos, which furthered its plans to grow into a midsized, commercial-stage drugmaker through an agreement with Gilead Sciences. Elsewhere on the European mainland, biotechs pulled in smaller—but for their purposes significant—sums of money. AM-Pharma raised €116 million ($131 million) to take a sepsis-associated acute kidney injury that Pfizer passed on through phase 3 studies. And Abivax tapped Sofinnova Partners for €12 million to extend its cash runway while it seeks to land a deal. In other news, Novartis stopped testing an Amgen-partnered Alzheimer’s disease drug. And more. — Nick Taylor
 
1. Gilead inks $5B upfront deal to gain broad access to Galapagos' pipeline

Gilead Sciences is paying $5.1 billion (€4.5 billion) to enter into a 10-year collaboration with Galapagos. The deal gives Gilead access to all of Galapagos’ current and future programs outside of Europe.

 
2. Weak data spur Amgen, Novartis to can pivotal Alzheimer's test 

Amgen and Novartis have stopped pivotal tests of CNP520 in Alzheimer’s disease after an interim review found patients on the BACE inhibitor worsened on some measures of cognitive function. The failure is a blow to the hypothesis that anti-amyloid drugs delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s when given before patients develop symptoms.

3. Free of Pfizer, AM-Pharma raises €116M for phase 3

AM-Pharma has raised €116 million ($131 million) to run a pivotal clinical trial in sepsis-associated acute kidney injury. The financing sets AM-Pharma up to advance recAP independently now that Pfizer has turned down its option to acquire the Dutch company.
 
4. Sofinnova invests in Abivax to delay cash crunch

Sofinnova Partners has invested €12 million ($14 million) in Abivax, securing itself more than 10% of the company. The investment extends Abivax’s cash runway out to the middle of 2020, buying the biotech time to fund ABX464 to milestones while seeking a partner for the asset.
 
And more articles of note>>