By John Carroll Bristol-Myers Squibb has struck a deal to buy Seattle-based ZymoGenetics for $885 million, snaring its development partner on a mid-stage hepatitis C program along with a pipeline that includes new therapies for cancer and inflammatory conditions. For shareholders that $9.75-per-share offer–about $735 million net of the cash that the biotech has in …
By John Carroll After 25 years of ongoing research, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Greengard is unveiling a new pathway at work in Alzheimer’s–a discovery likely to trigger a fresh burst of R&D work around a new therapy for the mystery disease. Alzheimer’s has proved a vexing target for drug developers. Eli Lilly was bitterly disappointed …
By John Carroll Orexigen has finally inked a deal on its weight-loss drug Contrave, accepting a relatively small $50 million upfront payment and more than a billion dollars in potential milestones from Japan’s Takeda in exchange for North American marketing rights for a therapy that’s about four months away from the FDA’s finish line. Orexigen’s …
By John Carroll San Carlos, CA-based Cellerant Therapeutics–a 2005 Fierce 15 company–is getting a big boost from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which has inked a $153 million contract to develop a new adult stem cell therapy for acute radiation syndrome. Cellerant will receive up to $63.3 million in the two-year base period …
By John Carroll With a new neurodegenerative disease therapy up for regulatory review and a fresh $29 million financing round sitting in the bank, FoldRx announced this morning that Pfizer has moved in to scoop up the Cambridge, MA-based biotech to add to its orphan drug pipeline. The companies kept the numbers under wraps, but they …