May 20 Company Quick Takes: LifeArc trades Keytruda royalties for $1.3B; plus Evotec-Just, Actelion-Owlstone, Genomind
LifeArc gets $1.3B for Keytruda royalties
U.K. medical research charity LifeArc sold an undisclosed portion of its royalties for Keytruda pembrolizumab to a subsidiary of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $1.3 billion. LifeArc gained its royalties through a 2007 collaboration with Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to humanize the IgG4 mAb against PD-1. After selling a smaller portion of its royalty interest for $150 million in 2016, the charity used some of the money to establish funds to provide grants for translational research in rare diseases and invest in early stage spinouts.
Evotec buying Just Biotherapeutics for up to $90M
Evotec SE (Xetra:EVT) is adding biologics in therapeutic areas of oncology, CNS, pain, inflammation, metabolic and infectious diseases to its pipeline of small molecules through its acquisition of Just Biotherapeutics Inc. (Seattle, Wash.). Just Biotherapeutics equity holders Arch Venture Partners, Merck & Co., Lilly Asia Ventures and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will receive $60 million in cash upon closing of the deal and up to $30 million in milestones over the next three years...