AstraZeneca is strengthening its oncology pipeline with the acquisition of TeneoTwo, which has an ongoing Phase I trial in relapsed and refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, in a deal valued at up to $1.27 billion. 

AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca moved to bolster the company’s COVID-19 portfolio of antibodies on May 17 with a $157 million licensing deal for experimental therapies developed by newly launched biotech RQ Bio.

Cullinan Oncology and Taiho Pharmaceutical announced that Taiho was acquiring Cullinan Pearl and will co-develop and co-commercialize a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) drug.

Pfizer Inc.’s $11.6 billion deal for migraine specialist Biohaven Pharmaceutical has kindled expectations on Wall Street that the transaction may usher in more buyouts as cash-flush drugmakers look to snap up beaten-down smaller biotechs.

Cortexyme, a company focusing on treatments for degenerative diseases, entered into a deal to acquire Novosteo, which plays in the rare disease space. Once the deal is finalized, the merged companies will operate under the name Quince Therapeutics and trade under the ticker symbol QNCX.

Pfizer

Pfizer Inc. said on May 10 the company will pay $11.6 billion to buy Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co., making a big bet on its ability to boost sales of the top-selling pill in a new class of migraine drugs.

Ashfield Engage, part of UDG Healthcare, acquired PROPENSITY4 – a ‘smart data’ organization and leader in the healthcare insights and analytics arena.

Elon Musk struck a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Although a somewhat unconventional character, sleeping at the Tesla headquarters and eschewing wealthy materialism, make no mistake that Musk’s successful track record in business shows how significant Twitter may become under his leadership. While no one knows for sure what will be, Casey Ross – Social Media Strategy Director at FCB Health New York – looks at some of the issues Musk has publicly called out, and their potential implications for advertisers.

AstraZeneca, flag

AstraZeneca topped off a very busy week with the company’s first-quarter 2022 financial report, citing a total of $11.39 billion in revenue, a whopping increase of 60 percent. That performance was driven by the acquisition of Alexion and several contracts for Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine developed with the University of Oxford.

Gilead Sciences Inc. announced that first-quarter 2022 revenue rose 3 percent, helped by sales of the HIV drug Biktarvy and the COVID antiviral Veklury, but reported a net loss as the biotech company wrote down the value of its 2020 acquisition of Immunomedics following recent trial results for the cancer medicine Trodelvy.