Ionis pharmaceuticals recently licensed-out its antisense drug to AstraZeneca in deal total worth up to USD 330 million

Ionis Pharmaceuticals has recently licensed-out an antisense drug to AstraZeneca, bagging a payment of USD 30 million as an upfront licensing fee. AstraZeneca will now be taking care of the development and commercialization of IONIS-AZ5-2.5Rx, designed to treat the kidney disease. Ionis will receive up to USD 300 million more in tiered royalties as well as development and regulatory milestones making it a USD 330 million deal in total.

Roche has signed a deal worth USD 1.9 billion to buy Flatiron

Pharma industry giant Roche has recently signed a deal worth USD 1.9 billion deal to acquire oncology data firm Flatiron Health. The deal gives Roche complete ownership of the cancer software and a repository of real-world cancer evidence making the venture backed by Google a rising star. Real-world evidence is the key driver of this deal according to the company.

Merck along with three partners has started ExploreBio in Israel, an EUR 20 million pre-seed investment initiative

Merck, a US-based major pharma company has recently announced ExploreBio. A pre-seed-investment vehicle initiated by four investment funds targeted at nurturing early-stage companies in the biotechnology domain in Israel. The Strategic corporate venture capital arm of Merck has partnered with three partners namely Pontifax, Arkin Holdings, and WuXi AppTec to create the EUR 20 million pre-seed investment vehicle.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Nektar Therapeutics has collaborated on the global development & commercialization of Nectar’s NKTR-214 drug

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Nektar Therapeutics has recently announced that they have collaborated on the global strategic development and commercialization for Nektar’s NKTR-214 (lead immuno-oncology program). Now the companies will work together to develop and commercialize Nectar’s NKTR-214 in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo (nivolumab) and Opdivo plus Yervoy (ipilimumab).