M&A In the wake of Sanofi’s USD 3.7 billion tie-up for US biotech Principia, J&J has moved to bolster its autoimmune portfolio with the acquisition of Momenta Pharmaceuticals for USD 6.5 billion, a further signal of Big Pharma’s prioritisation of rare disease treatments.   The all-cash deal sees J&J’s pharmaceutical division…

USA PharmaBoardroom recently spoke to CNS-focused Danish biopharma company Lundbeck’s EVP and Head of North America Peter Anastasiou, who highlighted the long-term damage COVID-19 is causing to the general mental health of society, and how Lundbeck is well-positioned to address this in North America.   As the global pandemic rages on,…

China Since the Chinese government unrolled an unprecedented volume-based procurement initiative for essential drugs used in the public hospital system in November 2018 in a bid to curb unsustainable healthcare expenditures, domestic and foreign drug manufacturers have been forced into an increasingly cutthroat race to the bottom, at least for the…

Roundup A roundup of the latest news from Chinese pharma, including Big Pharma players losing out in the latest round of domestic procurement bidding, updates on Sinopharm’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine, biotech funding news, and Bayer and Hua Medicine’s diabetes collaboration.   Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck among Big Pharma losers in China’s…

UK US Merck (MSD globally) is following through on a 2017 commitment to invest in a new early research hub in central London, with plans to open the ‘London Discovery Research Centre’ by 2025.   Having announced that the hub would be built in 2017, one year after the UK’s vote…

Roundup A selection of the latest stories from Latin American pharma, including AstraZeneca’s new COVID-19 vaccine production agreements in Mexico and Argentina, human trial approvals for other COVID-19 vaccines in Brazil, and US firm Catalent’s scale up of its Argentinian manufacturing footprint.   AstraZeneca will work with Mexico, Argentina to produce…

Sanofi Sanofi has agreed a deal to buy out its partner, US biotech company Principia Biopharma for USD 3.7 billion in cash, giving the French giant full ownership of Principia’s pipeline of BTK inhibitors for autoimmune disorders.   The deal, whereby Sanofi is set to pay USD 100 a share to…

China The only company in our Summer 2020 edition of InFocus: 5 Biotechs to Watch in China to be helmed by a non-founding CEO, I-Mab Biopharma has advanced since its establishment in 2017 at a pace that would seem to outpace the fast-moving China biotech industry.   [Post-merger], I-Mab became an…

Hong Kong It has been just over two years since the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) revised its listing rules to allow pre-revenue biotechs to IPO as long as they met certain criteria. In May 2020, during the first in a series of webinars organized by the HKEX to celebrate the second…

China Probably one of the most recognisable Chinese biotechs globally, Zai Lab may only be seven years old but the company has progressed rapidly in becoming a NASDAQ-listed company with not just one but two commercial assets through a stunningly effective strategy of forming productive collaborations with the most innovative biopharma…

Merck PharmaBoardroom recently sat down with Merck’s EVP and Head of Global Healthcare Operations, Teresa Rodó to unpack her important role within the global group and how Merck has pivoted to rise to the supply chain challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis.   Although many companies now claim to have this…

Opinion As COVID-19 threatens to derail more than a decade’s worth of hard-won gains in the fight against malaria, Dr Benjamin Pretorius, managing director at ERADA Technology Alliance, warns that diversions of malaria resources and interruptions to prevention programmes may cost thousands of lives.   Malaria still takes the lives of…