M & A

Biocon Biologics has announced the latest milestone in its integration of former partner Viatris’s biosimilars business, completing the move in the US and Canada “ahead of schedule.”

<p>Executive Summary</p> <p>An interactive look at medtech and diagnostics deals made during August 2024. Data courtesy of Biomedtracker.</p>

This week, the FDA announced a new head of its device evaluation office; synthetic genomics firm Constructive Bio landed $58m in funding; and Natera got a permanent injuction against NeoGenomics Labs' RaDaR assay.

UK-based Biocomposites will begin selling in the UK its next-generation osteoinductive bone graft substitute, NanoBone, which came with its acquisition of Artoss GmbH in June 2023. Meanwhile, the company has purchased remaining shares in the manufacturers of SYNICEM and Subiton antibiotic bone cements and preformed antibiotic-loaded spacers.

Edwards Lifesciences’ Critical Care business “invented the hemodynamic monitoring category, and its solutions are currently used in more than 10,000 hospitals globally to better understand the cardiovascular condition in real-time for critically ill patients, which helps improve outcomes,” says BD, which sees synergies and new innovation opportunities across the groups’ data sets and platforms. Acquired for $4.2bn cash, Critical Care generated more than $900m in revenue in 2023.

This week, a Delaware court awarded Auris Health shareholders $1bn in a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson; Abbott recalled some FreeStyle Libre 3 sensors; and McKesson purchased a controlling interest in a Florida cancer care chain.

As the pharma earnings season wrapped up, it seemed like a contest to see which company's stock price dropped the most after their announcement and which made the poorest acquisition.

Getinge says it plans to pay about $477m for organ transport and services company Paragonix Technologies in an effort to “redefine the market standard in transplantation.”

Plus deals involving Lilly/Oblique, Rafael Holdings/Cyclo, ADCendo/Multitude, Ocuvex/Visiox and more.

J&J buys heart failure implant company V-Wave, whose Ventura Interatrial Shunt could be the first device of its kind aimed to reach the roughly 800,000 patients in the US who experience heart failure and reduce ejection fraction every year.

Three $1bn+ alliances were penned in July. In the top alliance by deal value, Dren Bio teamed up with Novartis for the discovery and development of therapeutic bispecific antibodies for cancer using Dren Bio’s proprietary targeted myeloid engager and phagocytosis platform. The deal could be worth up to $3bn. The companies will collaborate to advance selected targeted myeloid engager programs in oncology through clinical candidate selection, at which point Novartis will assume full responsibility for all remaining development, manufacturing, regulatory and commercialization activities. In the top M&A, Eli Lilly penned a definitive agreement to acquire Morphic Therapeutic for $57 per share or approximately $3.2bn. Morphic's pipeline includes integrin therapies for autoimmune and fibrotic diseases and cancer and is led by Phase IIb candidate MORF-057. The selective oral small molecule inhibitor of α4β7 integrin is being evaluated for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. It could provide Lilly with a strong competitor to Takeda Pharmaceuticals' marketed IBD therapy Entyvio (vedolizumab). Financing reached $4.6bn in biopharma, $769m in devices, and $373m in diagnostics.

Plus deals involving AstraZeneca/Conduit, Recursion/Exscientia, G1/Pharmacosmos, Sanofi/Vir, Passage Bio/GEMMA and Lupin/Evofem. Also including deals in brief.

Global investment firm Carlyle has agreed to pay $3.8b for Baxter International’s Kidney Care unit. The newly spun-off business will be known as Vantive.

Avista VC acquires OTC CMO Trillium; FDA deputy commissioner Jones to open CRN conference; AG1 founder steps down, COO moves up to CEO; ChromaDex hires general counsel; Ajinomoto, Shiru partner to develop sweet proteins; and change at ingredient provider LBB helm.

Church & Dwight’s slower sales at retail in June-July than in January-May point to still slower results for rest of year. It doesn’t expect second-half help from gummy vitamin lines or give them a full vote of confidence for remaining in portfolio.

The Belgium-based biotech needs to do more with its plentiful cash pile than just “fairly small transactions” to boost its promising but very early-stage pipeline to inspire investors, according to one analyst.

In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: Pfizer bullish on its oral glp-1; BMS’s rising confidence about Medicare pricing of Eliquis; more long term data for Leqembi; NewAmsterdam’s CETP inhibitor shows promise; and a look at Mankind’s Bharat Serums buy.  

Major Japanese firm picks up US drug discovery platform company Jnana in apparent bid to strengthen discovery capabilities and build its mid-stage R&D presence in the renal area. 

Cipla, which has a healthy cash position, outlines areas of deal interest in India and the US, where sterile injectable sites could be on its radar. The company is also set to tap new frontiers of growth, including in areas such as mental health and obesity.

Cipla, which has a healthy cash position, outlines areas of deal interest in India and the US, where sterile injectable sites could be on its radar. The company is also set to tap new frontiers of growth, including in areas such as mental health and obesity.