January

May 11, 2012: Abbott and Danish biotech company Action Pharma A/S have agreed the acquisition by Abbott from Action Pharma of AP214, a compound in development for the prevention of acute kidney injury (AKI) associated with major cardiac surgery in patients at increased risk and with further potential in adjacent indications. The compound is a hormone analogue that targets both systemic inflammation and cellular death (apoptosis) caused by hypoxia (lack of blood flow) which can occur during surgery.

May 11, 2012: Nuevolution has received a milestone payment derived from its collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim following identification of potent small-molecule compounds that have been shown to disrupt the protein-protein interaction of an undisclosed therapeutic target.
Nuevolution is applying its proprietary Chemetics® technology to identify novel small-molecule leads against drug targets of interest to Boehringer Ingelheim. Nuevolution has so far screened about 300 million small molecules against the first of the targets selected under the collaboration.

May 11, 2012: The Broad Institute and Fluidigm Corporation have established a new research centre dedicated to accelerating the development of research methods and discoveries in mammalian single-cell genomics. The Single-Cell Genomics Center is also expected to act as a hub for collaboration between single-cell genomics researchers in a number of fields, including stem cells and cancer biology. The Center will be housed at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and will feature a suite of Fluidigm single-cell tools, protocols and technologies, including the BioMark HD System.

May 11, 2012: Basel, Switzerland-based 4-Antibody AG and drug discovery and development company Evotec AG have formed a strategic collaboration agreement under which Evotec will offer a fully integrated antibody discovery and development service. Evotec will combine its high throughput and high content screening approach with 4-Antibody’s high throughput antibody selection approach to allow screening of large and diverse antibody populations for desired functionality and activity at an early stage of selection.

May 11, 2012: Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company designing and engineering novel and differentiated protein-based biotherapeutics, has secured $20 million in Series A equity financing, expanding the company’s total Series A investment to $45 million. New investor JAFCO Co, Ltd joined the Series A financing with a $10 million investment and $10 million was received from existing investors Third Rock Ventures and Flagship Ventures.

May 11, 2012: MediGene AG has received a €5 million milestone payment from Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd as the final payment for the transfer of rights for the cancer drug Eligard from MediGene to Astellas. The company has now received all milestone payments, totaling €25 million, related to the transfer of the Eligard rights and will continue to receive 2% royalties on net sales of Eligard achieved by Astellas. MediGene’s obligations and risks associated with future drug supply, cost of sales, and royalty payments due to primary licensor Tolmar have now ceased.

May 11, 2012: BASF has announced its acquisition of Equateq Ltd, a leading company in the manufacture of highly concentrated omega-3 fatty acids. The acquisition extends BASF’s portfolio of omega-3 products for the pharmaceutical and dietary supplement industries with highly concentrated omega-3 fatty acids. Equateq has a production site on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland and employs 47 people. The company will be integrated into BASF’s Pharma Ingredients & Services unit, part of the Nutrition & Health division. The integration is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

May 11, 2012: Novozymes Biopharma, part of Novozymes A/S, has started commercial supply of hyaluronic acid from a newly inaugurated factory in Tianjin, China, which represents a more than DKK 350 million investment. The new facility operates according to pharmaceutical standard Q7 cGMP. The first commercial products using Novozymes Hyasis® hyaluronic acid as a raw material are expected to reach the market in Q2 this year.

May 4, 2012: Novartis has signed a definitive agreement to acquire speciality dermatology generics company Fougera Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Melville, New York, USA. Novartis will acquire the business for $1.525 billion in an all-cash transaction. The sellers are comprised of a consortium of private equity funds led by Nordic Capital, DLJ Merchant Banking (a Credit Suisse affiliate) and Avista Capital Partners.

May 4, 2012: Pfizer has reported first-quarter 2012 revenues of $15.4 billion, a decrease of 7 per cent compared with $16.5 billion in the year-ago quarter. First-quarter 2012 US revenues were $6 billion, a decrease of 15 per cent compared with the year-ago quarter, primarily as a result of the US loss of exclusivity of Lipitor last November. International revenues were $9.5 billion, consistent with the prior-year quarter, which reflects 1 per cent operational growth and a 1 per cent unfavourable impact of foreign exchange.