After being spurned, Sumitomo has persuaded Myovant into an acquisition that values the latter at $2.9 billion. Astellas is doubling down in gene therapy with a $50 million purchase of a stake in Taysha Gene Therapies. A couple in a trade secret theft case involving Roche's Genentech and Taiwanese firm JHL Biotech have been sentenced to six months in prison. And more.
1. Sumitomo nets Myovant in $2.9B buyout, adding IVF asset to pipeline
Sumitomo Pharma has convinced Myovant of an acquisition after increasing its offer by almost 20%. For $1.7 billion or $27 per share, Sumitomo is buying the remaining 48% stake in Myovant, which has two commercial products, Orgovyx and Myfembree. The deal gives Myovant a total value of $2.9 billion. Myovant’s pipeline includes hormone booster MVT-602, a Takeda castoff.
2. Astellas continues gene therapy push with $50M for stake in Taysha, options on 2 CNS assets
Multiple setbacks after the Audentes acquisition didn’t deter Astellas from the gene therapy field. The Japanese pharma is investing $50 million in Taysha Gene Therapies for a 15% stake in the biotech and the option to license two neurological disease candidates. The two adeno-associated virus gene therapies are in early clinical development for Rett syndrome and axonal neuropathy.
3. In trade secrets case, ex-Genentech staffer and husband get 6-month prison sentences
The couple who pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from Roche’s Genentech have received a six-month prison sentence, plus fines of over $10,000 each. Former Genentech employee Xanthe Lam and her husband Allen Lam stole confidential technologies from Genentech to help Taiwanese firm JHL Biotech develop copycat drugs, according to federal prosecutors.
4. GSK and Samsung Bio double down with 2nd manufacturing deal, this one for $296M
GSK has signed a new contract manufacturing deal with Samsung Biologics worth $296 million, which runs through 2030. It’s not clear which drugs the Korean CDMO will help produce, but the contract figure is nearly 27% of the company’s revenue in 2021. Back in 2020, the two already inked a $231 million, eight-year deal on biologics.
5. Serial FDA offender Lupin lands 17-observation write-up at Indian biotech plant
Lupin once again ran afoul of the FDA’s manufacturing standards. A facility in Pune, India, received a 17-observation Form 483. The latest FDA rebuke follows a warning letter sent to Lupin’s Tarapur site in India last month, which came after its own Form 483.
6. GSK prunes painkiller production in Pakistan, citing price points amid emergency
GSK is cutting back production of the painkiller Panadol in Pakistan after recent flooding in the country. In a securities filing, the company invoked a force majeure, citing soaring costs of raw materials used to manufacturing Panadol tablets. Several other drugmakers have stopped making painkillers altogether in the country, GSK noted.
7. Bluebird spinout 2seventy bio, JW Therapeutics ink $3M deal for solid tumor cell therapy program
Chinese CAR-T player JW Therapeutics has teamed up with bluebird bio spinout 2seventy bio in a partnership focused on T-cell receptor therapies for solid tumors. The two will initially focus on 2seventy’s MAGE-A4 TCR program, which is already a part of a collaboration with Regeneron. JW has obtained rights to the program in China for $3 million upfront.
Other News of Note
8. Aiming to block Entresto generics, Novartis sues Mylan, Alembic and others for patent infringement
9. VectorBuilder bags $57M to build out gene delivery capabilities
10. Particulate, impurity concerns trigger recalls for Viatris, Aurobindo generic medicines