Drug Discovery

Amneal to acquire substantially all of Kashiv Specialty Pharmaceuticals

Amneal Pharmaceuticals and Kashiv BioSciences announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC (“Amneal”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, will acquire a 98% interest in Kashiv Specialty Pharmaceuticals, LLC (“Kashiv Specialty”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kashiv focused on the development of complex generics, innovative drug delivery platforms and novel 505(b)(2) drugs.

BeiGene announces collaboration with Novartis to develop and commercialize anti-PD-1 antibody Tislelizumab

BeiGene announced a collaboration and license agreement with Novartis Pharma AG to develop, manufacture and commercialize BeiGene’s anti-PD-1 antibody tislelizumab in the United States, Canada, Mexico, member countries of the European Union, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Russia, and Japan.

Sanofi to buy biopharmaceutical firm Kymab for up to $1.45bn

French drugmaker Sanofi has agreed to acquire clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Kymab in a deal valued at around $1.45bn.

Pfizer says BNT162b2 vaccine is effective against new Covid strains

Pfizer and BioNTech said that their Covid-19 vaccine BNT162b2 has been found to be effective against a key mutation found in two highly transmissible strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as per the results from an in vitro study.

Celularity and GX Acquisition announce merger agreement to create publicly listed leader in allogeneic cellular therapy

Celularity, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, leading the next evolution in cellular medicine with the development of off-the-shelf allogeneic therapies derived from the postpartum human placenta, and GX Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: GXGX), a special purpose acquisition company, today announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which GX Acquisition Corp. will combine with Celularity.

Affinivax secures $226m in Series C financing to boost MAPS vaccine pipeline

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Affinivax has secured $226m in Series C financing to advance the development of new vaccines with its multiple antigen presenting system (MAPS) platform.

Bayer and CureVac collaborate on Covid-19 vaccine candidate

German pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer has entered into a collaboration and services agreement with biopharmaceutical firm CureVac on Covid-19 vaccine called CVnCoV.

Xencor, MD Anderson enter collaboration to develop novel T cell-engaging bispecific antibodies for potential treatment of cancer

Xencor and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced a strategic research collaboration and commercialization agreement to develop novel CD3 bispecific antibody therapeutics for the potential treatment of patients with cancer.

Fujifilm to invest $2bn to build large-scale cell culture manufacturing site in US

Fujifilm is set to invest about $2bn to build a new large-scale cell culture production site for biopharmaceuticals in the US.