By John Carroll Biotech IPOs may be hard to pull off, but buyouts are all the rage in the early part of 2011. And Merck ($MRK) joined the big game with today’s announcement that it has struck a deal to acquire eye-drug developer Inspire Pharmaceuticals ($ISPH) for $430 million in cash. The $5 per share price …
By Maureen Martino Merck is boosting its biologics unit in a deal with Parexel. The CRO will provide its clinical development services for Merck BioVenture, including access to regulatory strategy and clinical development planning services for the development of broad classes of biosimilars. Additionally, a dedicated Merck BioVentures unit will be established within Parexel’s organization. Financial details of …
By John Carroll Undaunted by its mixed results trying to come up with a new therapy for Alzheimer’s, Merck has struck a $289 million deal with Canada’s Alectos Therapeutics to collaborate on new molecules for the memory-wasting ailment and other disorders. The pact includes an upfront payment and milestones, but there was no breakout on …
By Maureen Martino Merck (NYSE: MRK) has agreed to purchase bankrupt Hawaii Biotech‘s dengue fever vaccine unit for an undisclosed sum. It’s a critical move for Hawaii, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year and will deplete a $2 million credit line by the end of this month. The sale leaves Hawaii with a West Nile …
By John Carroll Merck brought out its top guns at this morning’s R&D meeting to make a bullish case for its late-stage prospects in the wake of a $41 billion mega-merger with Schering-Plough. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe are reviewing applications from Merck on four NMEs, and the Big Pharma company plans to file …
By John Carroll Merck has opted to move into the driver’s seat to steer the development of Ariad’s late-stage cancer therapy ridaforolimus. The pharma company (ARIA) is taking direct control over the clinical development of the drug, paying Cambridge, MA-based Ariad $50 million upfront along with $19 million to reimburse the biotech for its R&D …
By John Carroll Merck’s strategy for striking new drug collaborations can be boiled down to a three-word mantra: faster, better and cheaper. That was the bottom line that Margaret Beer, Merck’s head of licensing and external research in Europe, offered at a recent conference. “It’s not a Friday afternoon operation,” Dr. Beer told colleagues at …
By Tracey Staton Growth in Asia, growth via acquistion, growth via acquisition in Asia: Drugmakers promised investors all these strategies over the weekend. Here’s who plans to use which approach: Eli Lilly said it expects its Japanese revenues to grow in the “mid teens” percentage-wise in 2010, the chief of its Japanese unit said today. …
