Seattle Genetics’ shares rocketed after news broke of Merck making a major investment into the Bothwell, Washington-based company via two strategic oncology deals.
Shares of Akcea Therapeutics were up more than 60 percent in trading after majority owner Ionis Pharmaceuticals announced it will acquire all outstanding shares of the company, which amounts to about 24 percent of available stock for $18.50 per share.
Sociétés des Produits Nestlé, a part of Nestlé Health Science, acquired the outstanding shares of California-based Aimmune for $2.6 billion in cash following years of increasing its financial position in the food allergy-focused company.
Sanofi announced the acquisition of Principia Biopharma in a deal valued at about $3.68 billion as the French company continues to transform its R&D division to more heavily emphasize oncology and other lucrative programs.
Less than one month after GlaxoSmithKline took a 10% stake in CureVac, the Germany-based company raised $213 million in an initial public offering.
Shares of Biogen jumped more than 11 percent after the company announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted the Biologics License Application (BLA) for aducanumab, an investigational treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
Two years after AbbVie and Voyager Therapeutics first forged a collaboration to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, the partnership came to an end after AbbVie terminated the agreement.
Denali Therapeutics and development partner Sanofi announced data from the Phase Ib trial of DNL747 in Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). After apparent disappointing results, the companies have chosen to pause the studies with the drug and shift their resources to a similar drug, DNL788, for the same indications.
Shares of Gilead Sciences rose following a report that the company was approached by U.K. pharma giant AstraZeneca regarding a potential merger.
Maryland-based Novavax snagged $384 in additional grant funding to advance the company’s vaccine candidate against COVID-19.
