The benefits of Horizon Pharma's ($HZNP) $1.1 billion (€1.0 billion) acquisition of Hyperion Therapeutics ($HPTX) trickled down to Israel's Clal Biotech (TASE:CBI). Clal biotech gained a $7.5 million stake in Hyperion in the sale of Andromeda. And while the Andromeda deal turned sour, the value of the stake in Hyperion has shot up 84%. Globes
Oxford University professor Sir John Bell joined the board of Immunocore and used his first interview after taking the post to lambast the British financial sector. "Given that we are on the doorstep of one of the world's great financial centres there has been a paucity of risk capital for life sciences," Bell said. Bell also bemoaned the lack of mid-sized biopharma companies--such as Gilead ($GILD) and Celgene ($CELG)--in the U.K. FT
Innocoll ($INNL) secured €25 million ($26.9 million) in debt financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which has a remit to back midcap R&D companies. The cash will go toward the expansion of Innocoll's German R&D facility and clinical trials of its lead candidate. Release
Basilea Pharmaceutica (SIX:BSLN) in-licensed panRAF kinase inhibitors from a consortium of U.K. organizations, including Cancer Research Technology and the Wellcome Trust. The oral, small molecules are designed to target BRAF and other pathways linked to resistant tumor cells. Members of the consortium are set to advance the lead candidate from the program into Phase I this year, after which Basilea will take over. Release
Ipsen (EPA:IPN) continued its advance into the U.S. with the inauguration of its Cambridge, MA R&D site and the expansion of its collaboration with Harvard University. The French drugmaker is working with researchers at Harvard on neuroendocrine tumors and neuromuscular disorders, as well as technologies linked to toxins and peptides. Release | More
Shares in MorphoSys (ETR:MOR) dropped 20% after Celgene ($CELG) exited a $818 million (€762 million) multiple myeloma co-development alliance. The quick collapse of the pact--which was inked late in 2013--raises questions about early-phase clinical data on MOR202 and leaves MorphoSys without the support of a significant player in the multiple myeloma sector. FierceBiotech