Wednesday, March 4, 2020 Daily Archives

Culture Biosciences raises $15m for bioreactor capacity hike

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Culture Biosciences will use new funding to increase bioreactor capacity and create additional monitoring software. The San Francisco contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) announced the completion of a $15 million (€13.4 million) series A financing round this week, explaining it had attracted support from new venture capital backers as well as existing investors. Culture Biosciences said it will use the cash to triple bioreactor capacity and to create additional cloud-based biomanufacturing R&D software monitoring and development tools. CEO Will…

March 4, 2020

Thermo’s $11.5bn bid for Qiagen accepted

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Thermo Fisher Scientific is poised to add coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 test kit to its diagnostics business after agreeing an $11.5bn takeover of Qiagen NV. The firms announced the agreement on Tuesday, valuing Qiagen at $11.5 billion, or €39 ($43.4) per share. Thermo CEO Marc N. Casper said, “This acquisition provides us with the opportunity to leverage our industry-leading capabilities and R&D expertise to accelerate innovation and address emerging healthcare needs. “For shareholders, we expect the transaction to be immediately accretive and…

March 4, 2020

Gilead: $4.9bn Forty Seven buy sits in the oncology ‘sweet spot’

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The acquisition of monoclonal antibody developer Forty Seven complements Kite’s CAR-T therapy franchise in targeting cancers, says Gilead. Under deal terms announced Monday, Gilead will pay $95.50 (€85.50) for each share of Menlo Park, California-based Forty Seven, totaling $4.9 billion. Forty Seven’s lead CD47-blocking drug, an antibody called magrolimab, is being tested in combination with chemotherapy in separate studies evaluating it as a treatment for two types of blood cancer: a group of disorders called myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute…

March 4, 2020