Category: Finance
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Spin-Off Biotech Formed for Autoimmune Disorders
2 June 2015. Drug maker Astellas Pharma Inc. in Tokyo and Anokion SA, a biotechnology company in Lausanne, Switzerland, are forming Kanyos Bio Inc., a spin-off enterprise to develop therapy candidates for autoimmune diseases. The deal could bring Kanyos Bio, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as much as $760 million, as well as an equity investment…
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Space Object Taxonomy Sought in $50K Challenge
22 May 2015. A new challenge on InnoCentive seeks a scientifically-based method for describing orbiting space objects with the fewest characteristics possible, but still predicts the objects’ behavior. The competition has a total purse of $50,000 and a deadline for submissions of 20 July 2015. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowdsourcing competitions for corporate…
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Phillips, MIT Form Health Technology Collaboration
20 May 2015. Electronics manufacturer Royal Phillips and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are collaborating on research into health care technology and digital urban lighting systems. The 5-year, $25 million agreement also includes moving the company’s North American research and development center to Cambridge, Massachusetts near the MIT campus. Phillips, headquartered in the Netherlands, designs and…
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AstraZeneca Building New Biologics Plant
18 May 2015. The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca plans to build a new facility in Södertälje, Sweden to manufacture biologic medications. The $285 million plant is expected to employ from 150 to 250 workers when it goes into operation in 2019. Södertälje is the site of AstraZeneca’s largest factory for making tablets and capsules, as well…
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Oxford Establishes £300M Spin-Off Capital Fund
15 May 2015. University of Oxford in the U.K. is creating a capital investment fund to help launch spin-off companies based on research from university labs. The £300 million ($US 472 million) fund will be managed by a new enterprise, Oxford Sciences Innovation plc, which will be the university’s preferred capital financier for businesses generated…
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NASA Challenge Seeks Elements for Human Presence on Mars
8 May 2015. NASA is asking the public for ideas on ways to establish a long-term presence of Mars in a new challenge offered by InnoCentive. The competition has a total purse of $15,000 and a deadline for submissions of 6 July 2015. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowdsourcing competitions for corporate and organization…
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Cancer Therapy Spin-Off Gets $2M Small Business Grant
4 May 2015. A three year-old company started by a University at Buffalo microbiologist received a $2 million grant to develop an antibody into a clinical treatment for breast and other types of cancer. For-Robin in Williamsville, New York, received the two-year award from National Cancer Institute, part of National Institutes of Health, under the…
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Heart Drug Developer Raises $46M in Venture Funds
1 May 2015. MyoKardia Inc., a developer of therapies for inherited heart diseases, raised $46 million in its second venture funding round. Taking part in the financing for the South San Francisco, California company are the drug company Sanofi that already holds an equity stake in MyoKardia, as well as venture capital firms Casdin Capital,…
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Cancer Biotech Raising $147 Million in IPO
30 April 2015. Blueprint Medicines, a developer of cancer therapies that block enzymes supporting tumor growth, is raising some $146.7 million in its initial public stock offering. The Cambridge, Massachusetts enterprise, listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol BPMC, issued 8.15 million shares at $18.00. The company began trading today with its share price…
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Aduro Biotech Raises $108 million in IPO
15 April 2015. Aduro Biotech Inc., a developer of immunotherapies to treat cancer, issued its initial public stock offering today that expects to net the company some $108 million, after issuing 7 million shares priced at $17.00. The Berkeley, California enterprise trades on the Nasdaq exchange under symbol ADRO. As of the Nasdaq closing bell…