GlaxoSmithKline Boosts Its Cancer Drug Pipeline

GlaxoSmithKline Boosts Its Cancer Drug Pipeline

British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) has entered a new oncology arena with its acquisition of Tesaro Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRO) for approximately $5.1 billion. Tesaro is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company whose major marketed product, Zejula (niraparib), an oral poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, is currently approved for use in ovarian cancer. Specifically, it is in use in the United States and Europe as a treatment for adulta patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who are in response to platinum-based chemotherapy, regardless of BRCA gene mutation or biomarker status. More tests are under way to assess its use in “all-comers” patient populations, as a... Read More »
Harvest Health Expands into Florida Cannabis Market

Harvest Health Expands into Florida Cannabis Market

Harvest Health & Recreation, Inc. (OTC: HTHHF), a large vertically integrated cannabis company, jumped into the Florida medical marijuana market with its $65 million purchase of San Felasco Nurseries, Inc. The deal expands Harvest’s market reach, giving it more than 40 medical marijuana licenses in 10 states. San Felasco’s license allows it to produce and dispense medical marijuana products and operate as a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center. Each center can operate up to 25 dispensaries. The price is comprised of $34 million in cash, $29.65 million in multiple voting stock, valued at $390 per share, and $1.96 million in assumption of debt. Harvest’s move follows MedMen... Read More »
Swedish Orphan Drug Maker Moves into the U.S.

Swedish Orphan Drug Maker Moves into the U.S.

Ready or not, here comes Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (STO: SOBI). The company recently paid $1.5 billion to AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) in a double-sided deal. First, it’s acquiring the perpetual U.S. rights to Synagis (palivizumab), which prevents serious lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) caused by FSV in high-risk infants. The other side of the deal gives SOBI participation in 50% of the future earnings of AstraZeneca’s drug candidate MEDI8897, which it has been jointly developing with Sanofi Pasteur (NYSE: SNY) since March 2017. MEDI8897 is a follow-on candidate to Synagis and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) being investigated for the prevention of LRTI caused by RSV. Sobi... Read More »
Harvest Health Expands into Florida Cannabis Market

Canopy Growth Corp. Gets Ebbu Inc.

October 17, 2018 was a big day for Canada, which officially allowed adult recreational cannabis use across all provinces beginning at midnight. There was a flurry of deal making in the week leading up to the event, mostly from MedMen Enterprises (OTCQB: MMNFF) here in the States, as it snapped up dispensaries and their licenses. Up in Canada, Canopy Growth Corporation (NYSE: CGC) made its own acquisition. Canopy Growth, based in Smith Falls, Ontario, is a global cannabis and help company with a current market cap of  nearly $10.7 billion. On a trailing 12-month basis, it generated revenue of $66.1 million and a net loss of $106.4 million, so you can see there are some investors... Read More »
Harvest Health Expands into Florida Cannabis Market

Cannabis Cultivators Keep Growing in October

The medical marijuana market is catching fire in the United States. Less than two weeks into the month of October, MedMen Enterprises (CSE: MMEN) has notched up four deals, and market giant Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) has announced one. MedMen, based in Culver City, California, is a leading cultivator, producer and retailer of state-sanctioned cannabis in the United States. At the beginning of October, it operated 18 licensed cannabis facilities in California, Nevada and New York, but that list keeps growing. Two of its recent targets are in Illinois, one in Arizona and one in California. The largest of the MedMen deals (to disclose a price) was its acquisition of PharmCann LLC, one of the... Read More »
Allergan Doubles Down on Aesthetics

Allergan Doubles Down on Aesthetics

September 14 was a big day for Allergan plc’s (NYSE: AGN) medical aesthetics business. The company announced its acquisition of Bonti, Inc., a privately held clinical-stage biotech that develops novel, fast-acting neurotoxin programs for aesthetic and therapeutic applications. Later that same day, Allergan hosted a Medical Aesthetics Day in New York, at which its chief commerical officer, Bill Meury, said the company expects the unit to generate between $7 billion and $8 billion in sales by 2025. The business unit generated $3.8 billion in 2017. Allergan’s Medical Aesthetics unit includes the famous neurotoxin Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA), which was first approved in 1989 and... Read More »