Merck is spending €115 million ($137 million) up front and up to €349 million in future payments to buy out German biotech Rigontec.
The Munich, Germany-based company is at work on accessing the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) pathway, part of the innate immune system, as a new approach in cancer immunotherapy.
The idea is to induce both immediate and long-term antitumor immunity; its leading candidate, RGT100, is in early clinical trials in patients with various tumors. More details on targets and financials were not given.
The early-stage company was founded back in 2014 as a spinout of the University Bonn in Germany, raising nearly €30 million in that time from a host of VCs, including Boehringer’s Venture Fund, Forbion Capital Partners, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Wellington Partners Life Sciences and MP Healthcare Venture Management.
Though not on the scale of Gilead’s recent $11.9 billion buyout of CAR-T biotech Kite Pharma, Merck hopes this can add to its pipeline of cancer meds in a broader effort to shore up its future in I-O, coming after the commercial success of its checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda, which now has a series of FDA-approved uses across a number of cancers.
By Ben Adams
Source: Fierce Biotech
Echosens, a high-technology company offering liver diagnostic solutions, and Novo Nordisk A/S, a leading global healthcare company, announced a partnership to advance early diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and increase awareness of the disease among patients, healthcare providers and other stakeholders.
Positive opinion based on Phase 3 ADAPT trial showing efgartigimod provided clinically meaningful improvements in strength and quality of life measures. If approved, efgartigimod will be the first neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) blocker for the treatment of adults in Europe living with rare neuromuscular disease generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG).
Galapagos CEO Paul Stoffels, M.D., has finally taken the plunge on M&A. The newly minted chief executive has signed not one but two deals in an attempt to right the ship, bringing two small biotechs aboard for a combined 239 million euros ($251.4 million).
