Production & Sales

Advent in talks to buy Sanofi’s European generics business for EUR1.9bn

US-based global private equity firm Advent International has entered into exclusive talks to acquire Sanofi’s European generics business, Zentiva, for €1.9bn.

Servier to buy Shire’s oncology business for $2.4bn

French pharmaceutical firm Servier has signed an agreement to acquire the oncology business of Shire for $2.4bn.

Helsinn to acquire global rights of Valchlor/Ledaga from Actelion Pharmaceuticals

Helsinn has agreed to acquire worldwide rights to Valchlor/Ledaga (mechlorethamine/chlormethine), an alkylating agent for the topical treatment of mycosis fungoides-type cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (MF-CTCL), from Actelion Pharmaceuticals.

Cipher to buy Cardiome Pharma’s Canadian business portfolio

Cipher Pharmaceuticals has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement to acquire the Canadian business portfolio of Cardiome Pharma.

Study says non-antibiotic drugs affect gut bacteria

Researchers from European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have revealed that one in four drugs with human targets could affect the growth of bacteria in the human gut.

Biogen, AbbVie withdraw MS drug Zinbryta over safety concerns

Biogen and AbbVie are withdrawing their multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Zinbryta (daclizumab) from global market after reports of eight cases of serious brain inflammation.

Sanofi to buy hemophilia specialist Bioverativ for $11.6bn

French drugmaker Sanofi has agreed to acquire US-based biotechnology firm Bioverativ for about $11.6bn.

CGT Catapult to support CombiGene’s gene therapy for epilepsy

Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Catapult and Sweden-based CombiGene have signed an agreement to develop manufacturing process for novel gene therapy to treat epilepsy.

Regeneron forms consortium to accelerate sequencing of UK Biobank data

A new partnership between Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and five other drug manufacturers intends to accelerate the generation of genetic exome sequence data from the 500,000 participants of the UK Biobank.