Thermo Fisher Scientific is slated to buy electron microscope maker FEI Company for $4.2 billion, the firms announced last week (May 27). According to The New York Times, the aquisition is expected to close by early 2017.
“Fundamentally, this transaction bolsters our already strong position in the marketplace and allows us to play an increasing role in enabling our customers to accelerate breakthrough discoveries, increase productivity, and provide solutions to global challenges,” FEI’s Don Kania, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“In life sciences, there is growing adoption of electron microscopy to study the structure of proteins,” Marc Casper, Thermo Fisher chief executive officer, said in a statement. “The technologies we gain with FEI will complement our mass spectrometry leadership, putting Thermo Fisher in the best position to capitalize on this important trend.”
Just two months ago, Casper’s company closed another large acquisition deal: Thermo Fisher bought Affymetrix for $1.3 billion.
By Tracy Vence
Source: The Scientist
The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has introduced several new measures to make it easier to run clinical trials in the country, marking the first time in 20 years the regulatory body has made such an overhaul.
Diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk is partnering with Dewpoint Therapeutics in a deal aimed at uncovering new treatments for insulin resistance by targeting cellular droplets known as biomolecular condensates. Dewpoint will receive $55 million upfront from Novo, which plans to develop small molecule drugs against targets discovered using Dewpoint’s technology.
Sanofi has secured approval for Dupixent (dupilumab) from the European Commission (EC) to treat severe atopic dermatitis in children aged six months to five years, who are systemic therapy candidates, in the European Union (EU). This approval makes Dupixent the first and only medicine available in the US and Europe for the treatment of such young children.