Allergan Eyes Clinical-Stage Ocular Drugs

Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) just purchased privately-held RetroSense Therapeutics LLC for $60 million in an all-cash transaction, with potential regulatory and commercialization milestone payments. Based in Ann Arbor Michigan, RetroSense is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on novel gene therapy approaches to restore vision in those suffering from blindness. Its lead development program, RST-001, is a novel gene therapy for the potential treatment of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). The acquisition gives Allergan global rights to RetroSense’s lead product candidate, RST-001. In 2014, RST-001 received Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of Retinitis... Read More »

Danaher Doubles Down on Blood Diagnostics

Danaher Corporation (NASDAQ: DHR) has set a new direction for itself, after spinning off its Test & Measurement segment, Industrial Technologies segment and its Retail/Commercial Petroleum platform into Fortive Corporation (NYSE: FTV) on July 2. Post-separation, the company is positioned as a global science and technology  innovator with more than 20 operating companies in the health care, environmental and industrial industries. In September, Danaher announced its acquisition of Cepheid (NASDAQ: CPHD ) for $3.9 billion, or $53.00 per share. The consideration represents approximately a 54% percent premium to Cepheid’s common stock over the closing price of $34.42 on September 2,... Read More »

Big Pharma Pays Big for Biotech Pipelines

The pharmaceutical industry has largely given up on in-house research and development, saying that the R&D timeline is too costly, long and uncertain to fund with shareholders’ money. The industry has gone from bolt-on acquisitions of smaller companies with marketed products to battling it out for clinical-stage drug candidates. What’s surprised some industry observers is that these acquirers are now targeting early-stage and even pre-clinical drug candidates, to boost their own production pipelines, but as a way to stymie the competition, too. Pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions hit a peak in 2014, with 188 deals (up 25% year-over-year) and $213.3 billion in spending (up 220%... Read More »

Microbot Medical Merges with StemCells

Microbot Medical Ltd., an Israel-based medical device company that specializes in the research, design, development and commercialization of micro-robotics-assisted medical technologies, has merged with StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM), a biotech firm that engages in the research, development, and commercialization of stem cell-based therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. For StemCells, this merger is a strategic alternative to its failed Phase 2 clinical study of human neural stem cells in chronic spinal cord injuries. The combined company will pursue the development of robotics-based medical devices for the treatment of cerebrospinal fluid and gastrointestinal... Read More »

Busy Day for Bacterial Infection Drugs

On August 23rd, two separate deals occurred involving licenses to drug candidates for the treatment of serious infections. Productos Científicos S.A. de C.V. (PC), a leading privately-held Mexican pharmaceutical company, purchased a license to Taigexyn® in Latin America from privately-held TaiGen Biotechnology Company Limited. Taigexyn® (nemonoxacin) is a novel antibiotic for the treatment of bacterial infections, including those caused by drug resistant bacteria, which has proven its efficacy in Phase I, II and III clinical studies. According to IMS Health, Latin-America’s pharmaceutical market is projected to grow 9-12% from 2016-2020, faster than the projected 3-6% in more developed... Read More »

First Half of 2016 Shows Strength in M&A

Ever since the rally in health care mergers and acquisitions began in 2014, we’ve been waiting for the inevitable slam-on-the-brakes quarter. That rally was sparked by the advent of newly insured families and individuals entering the healthcare market, beginning on January 1, 2014. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, health care M&A topped 1,000 transactions that year and has never looked back. Isn’t it about time for the party to end? Not according to our data for the first six months of 2016, compared with the same period in 2014 and 2015. (But if you read our monthly M&A roundup on page 18, you may have second thoughts.) In the first half of 2016, deal volume... Read More »