Acquisition International Magazine’s Post

U.S. gene sequencing company Illumina emerges victorious in court battle against the EU over its acquisition of cancer diagnostic test maker Grail. The ruling, which challenges the EU's merger powers, follows Illumina's $7.1 billion purchase of Grail in 2021. The European Commission's decision to invoke Article 22 for this deal, despite being below the merger revenue threshold, has been contested and overturned. #Illumina #Grail #EU #mergersandacquisitions #legalnews #businesslaw

Gene&Cell Therapy >> Tectonic enters public markets in one of few biotech reverse mergers this year: Tectonic Therapeutic, a biotech from renowned entrepreneur and researcher Tim Springer, completed its reverse merger with gene therapy company Avrobio on Thursday and will begin trading as $TECX on Friday. The biotech hadn’t planned on a flip to the public markets anytime soon. The startup wasn’t seeking an initial public offering (most private life sciences companies have been cordoned off) nor was it searching for a public shell company to take over (as 14 other biotechs did last year), CEO Alise Reicin said in an interview with Endpoints News. Rather, the Phase 1b-stage Tectonic, which is developing GPCR medicines, was “pretty close” to wrapping up a Series B raise that would have kept the startup running into the first half of 2026, Reicin said. The biotech was more than two years into its research paid for by an $80 million Series A. A reverse merger would give the biotech even more runway, an appealing pro that has been echoed by other companies that have gone this route, including Lenz Therapeutics. “What we realized is by going the reverse merger route, it really enabled us to get a runway into mid-2027 and we felt we were ready to go public as a company, and so it just made sense and was the right thing to do for the company,” Reicin said in a preview of Tectonic’s life as a public biotech. Tectonic expects to have about $181 million in cash and equivalents, thanks in large part to a $130 million private placement from TAS Partners, 5AM Ventures, EcoR1 Capital, Polaris Partners and others. The biotech was the only one to announce a reverse merger in the first quarter of this year, a decline from three or four every quarter of 2023. During the first three months of 2024, a few biotechs instead went public by the traditional IPO route. While the pace slowed down, the “aftermarket trading for the asset class has been strong post-closing with a median close-to-current of 69% for reverse mergers announced and closed since 2023,” according to an April report from William Blair. The pace of reverse mergers picked back up this quarter, though, with TuHURA Biosciences, OnKure and Oruka all disclosing plans to become public companies by way of the alternative financing vehicle. Others have also considered it: ADC drug developer Pyramid Biosciences was bought by Biohaven in the first quarter but the startup had also evaluated reverse mergers, according to the LinkedIn profile of CFO Biren Amin. Joining AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly  Tectonic expects to start a Phase 2 study of its Fc-relaxin fusion protein, dubbed TX45, in the second half of this year, Reicin said. The startup will have randomized data from that trial, in patients with group 2 pulmonary hypertension with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction,… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy

LucidQuest Strategic Insights (lqventures.com) >>> Gene&Cell Therapy >> Tectonic enters public markets in one of few biotech reverse mergers this year: Tectonic Therapeutic, a biotech from renowned entrepreneur and researcher Tim Springer, completed its reverse merger with gene therapy company Avrobio on Thursday and will begin trading as $TECX on Friday. The biotech hadn’t planned on a flip to the public markets anytime soon. The startup wasn’t seeking an initial public offering (most private life sciences companies have been cordoned off) nor was it searching for a public shell company to take over (as 14 other biotechs did last year), CEO Alise Reicin said in an interview with Endpoints News. Rather, the Phase 1b-stage Tectonic, which is developing GPCR medicines, was “pretty close” to wrapping up a Series B raise that would have kept the startup running into the first half of 2026, Reicin said. The biotech was more than two years into its research paid for by an $80 million Series A. A reverse merger would give the biotech even more runway, an appealing pro that has been echoed by other companies that have gone this route, including Lenz Therapeutics. “What we realized is by going the reverse merger route, it really enabled us to get a runway into mid-2027 and we felt we were ready to go public as a company, and so it just made sense and was the right thing to do for the company,” Reicin said in a preview of Tectonic’s life as a public biotech. Tectonic expects to have about $181 million in cash and equivalents, thanks in large part to a $130 million private placement from TAS Partners, 5AM Ventures, EcoR1 Capital, Polaris Partners and others. The biotech was the only one to announce a reverse merger in the first quarter of this year, a decline from three or four every quarter of 2023. During the first three months of 2024, a few biotechs instead went public by the traditional IPO route. While the pace slowed down, the “aftermarket trading for the asset class has been strong post-closing with a median close-to-current of 69% for reverse mergers announced and closed since 2023,” according to an April report from William Blair. The pace of reverse mergers picked back up this quarter, though, with TuHURA Biosciences, OnKure and Oruka all disclosing plans to become public companies by way of the alternative financing vehicle. Others have also considered it: ADC drug developer Pyramid Biosciences was bought by Biohaven in the first quarter but the startup had also evaluated reverse mergers, according to the LinkedIn profile of CFO Biren Amin. Joining AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly  Tectonic expects to start a Phase 2 study of its Fc-relaxin fusion protein, dubbed TX45, in the second half of this year, Reicin said. The startup will have randomized data from that trial, in patients with group 2 pulmonary hypertension… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy

Weekly Recap of the Hottest M&A and Partnerships in the Biotech World! 🔥🤝 Merger and acquisition: 🔀 🇨🇭 Basilea Pharmaceutica acquires preclinical antibiotics program from 🇨🇭 Spexis AG | Spexis to receive up to CHF 2 million ($2.32 million) in upfront and milestone payments | Assets acquired: antibiotics targeting gram negative bacteria like Escherichia coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae 🇨🇳 Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals to acquire drug candidate from 🇺🇸 Biogen | undisclosed terms | Acquired asset: BIIB131 for acute ischemic stroke Partnering: 🤝 🇨🇦 Genevant Sciences to partner with 🇺🇸 Tome Biosciences to develop gene editing treatment for rare liver disorder | Genevant to receive $114.3 million as well as tiered royalties 🇺🇸 Lantheus partners with 🇺🇸 Perspective Therapeutics to expand radiopharmaceuticals pipeline and co-develop prostate cancer candidate | Perspective to receive $28 million upfront and $33 million in investment Subscribe to our newsletter for more partnering updates! 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dsgz62YY #deals #partnering #mergers #acquisitions #biotech

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Here's the latest biotech M&A update from Sarah Cole and me. The market remained fairly active month in March with big name high value deals, as well as some significant TransAtlantic activity with acquirers on both sides of the pond. Here are our thoughts below.    ➡ In the 6 biggest deals reported the only clear trend is the interest and ongoing firepower of big pharma to acquire clinical stage assets reflecting their need to bolster sales over the next decade with the looming patent cliff.   ➡ Novo remains in the spotlight with its acquisition of Cardior Pharmaceuticals (€1bn). Based in Hannover, Germany, Cardior's therapeutic approach targets non-coding RNA and it has a lead compound currently in phase II. Later stage assets definitely remain central to big pharma M&A strategies at the minute.   ➡ Similarly, AstraZeneca hit the headlines with two acquisitions – building pipeline with Canada's Fusion Pharmaceuticals for $2.4bn (clinical stage oncology, phase II) and French company Amolyt for $1.05bn (clinical stage rare endocrinology treatment, phase III)   ➡ Ginkgo had an interesting last minute February rush (which didn’t quite make our last editorial) announcing acquisitions of Reverie Labs, Proof Diagnostics and Patch Biosciences on 29th (using the full extent of the leap year…). Two of these are an AI play, presumably off the back of last year's announcement that they are partnering with Google Cloud to build a next gen AI platform for bio engineering and security: Reverie having AI/ML tools to accelerate drug discovery and Patch having built an AI platform for sequence design which is intended to strengthen Ginkgo's gene therapy and RNA Therapeutics services. The Proof acquisition was designed to provide Ginkgo's customers with a gene editing tool and next generation of therapies. TechBio remains very much in vogue and we're seeing a lot of activity in the venture space for this too – cf Relation Therapeutics recent $35m series seed.   Reach out to us if any you're interested in any aspect of these deals or if you'd like us to cover anything else in these updates. #lifesciences #mergersandacqusitions #venturecapital

Recursion is set to acquire Exscientia in a $688 million all-stock deal, creating a powerful #AI-driven small molecule #drugdiscovery platform. Exscientia shareholders will receive 0.7729 Recursion shares per share, owning 26% of the combined company. The merger aims to enhance drug discovery efficiency, combining Recursion's biology exploration with Exscientia's precision chemistry, including an automated small molecule synthesis platform. This merger surpasses previous AI-focused M&A deals in the drug discovery sector. Despite recent challenges, including a narrowed R&D focus and leadership changes at Exscientia, both companies bring valuable partnerships, with Recursion collaborating with Roche/Genentech and Bayer. The combined pipeline features 10 clinical-stage candidates, spanning rare diseases and cancer, with little overlap. Link: https://lnkd.in/e3qy6JDA

#MetagenomiTechnologies , a startup developing treatments for genetic diseases backed by #Moderna Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) and #Bayer AG (ETR:BAYN, OTC:BAYZF), filed for a US IPO on Friday.  Founded in 2018 by scientists at UC Berkeley, Metagenomi’s revenue to date has come from a trio of collaborations, including one with backer Moderna.  For the period ended September 30, the company saw revenue of $32.36 million, nearly triple what it generated in the year-ago quarter. Its loss was $48.96 million, compared to $28.97 million a year earlier. The company raised $275 million in a private funding round a year ago, according to reports.  Now, Metagenomi plans to list on the #Nasdaq under the ticker symbol #MGX.  More at #Proactive #ProactiveInvestors #NASDAQ #MRNA http://ow.ly/1w0W1058b2Z

2023 saw a surge in high-value biopharma deals, with 6 of the year's top 10 acquisitions happening in Q4. However, a McKinsey & Company report now suggests a shift towards smaller, strategic transactions for better returns. The focus is shifting towards building pipelines in fast-growing segments like cell and gene therapy and biologics. Smaller acquisitions could help to to de-risk investments and drive innovation. It's always important to remember that M&A is about more than just acquisitions. M&A is about talent retention, cultural integration, and leadership continuity. Despite challenges, brisk M&A activity is expected this year due to both patent losses and evolving market demand. Check this article out on Fierce Pharma for more - https://lnkd.in/gM6mMc_b #mergersandacquisitions #businessstrategy #innovation #techlaw #biopharma #foleyforward #garage2global Foley & Lardner LLP

Biopharma M&A Trends 2024: Strategic Consolidation on the Horizon The biopharma industry is gearing up for a transformative year in mergers and acquisitions. Building on the momentum of 2023's $128.8 billion in deals, 2024 promises to be a year of strategic moves and calculated risks. Key trends to watch: -Focus on late-stage assets -Oncology and rare diseases as prime targets -Technology-driven acquisitions, especially in ADCs and gene therapies -Increased cross-border activity What does this mean for the industry? How can companies navigate this evolving landscape? Read our in-depth analysis on the Vision Lifesciences website to gain valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges ahead. https://lnkd.in/eWiD9BaD #BiopharmaMA #PharmaceuticalIndustry #Biotech #MergersAndAcquisitions #HealthcareInnovation