Johnson & Johnson decided to terminate a $1.6 billion partnership with Argenx to develop the anti-CD70 antibody cusatuzumab to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
Now, a few years down the road,
Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck KGaA plunked down €188 million (about $226 million) in upfront cash to acquire exclusive global development and commercialization rights to Debiopharm’s oral Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins (IAP) antagonist, xevinapant.
AstraZeneca is selling European rights (excluding Spain and the UK) to the erstwhile blockbuster cholesterol drug Crestor to German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal as the British drugmaker focuses on cancer treatments.
Grünenthal agreed to acquire the European rights (excluding Spain and the UK) to AstraZeneca’s Crestor (rosuvastatin) and its associated brands for a total consideration of up to $350 million.
U.K.-based Celleron Therapeutics signed a licensing agreement with Swiss pharma giant Roche for the worldwide rights to the cancer drug emactuzumab, a monoclonal antibody directed against colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1R) expressed on macrophages.
Verastem signed a definitive deal to sell the company’s global commercial and development rights for Copiktra (duvelisib) to Secura Bio.
German drugmaker Bayer acquired all rights the company does not already own in Vitrakvi, a drug against a variety of cancers driven by a rare genetic mutation, from Eli Lilly’s Loxo Oncology.
GlaxoSmithKline bolstered the company’s cancer drug development pipeline, agreeing to pay up to 3.7 billion euros ($4.2 billion) to Merck KGaA for the rights to a next-generation immunotherapy.
AstraZeneca took another step to refocus on priority drugs by selling U.S. rights to Synagis for infant lung infections to Swedish Orphan Biovitrum for an upfront fee of $1.5 billion.
Nuvo Pharmaceuticals acquired the U.S. rights to Resultz head lice treatment from Piedmont Pharmaceuticals.
