April 5 Quick Takes: Farallon seeking change at Exelixis

Exelixis Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) became the latest biotech in the crosshairs of an activist investor. Farallon Capital Management, which said it is Exelixis’ largest active shareholder with a 7.2% stake, called for change at the cancer company and said it would nominate three candidates to its board. Last month, Carl Icahn said he plans to nominate three directors to the board of Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN), gearing up for a proxy battle with the sequencing company,

Austrian molecular glue company Proxygen GmbH announced a multiyear research collaboration and licensing agreement with Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to jointly identify and develop molecular glue degraders against multiple therapeutic targets. Proxygen will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, and is eligible for up to $2.6 billion in research, development, and commercial milestones, plus royalties. The deal is the third for Proxygen’s ligase-agnostic molecular glue discovery platform; the company is also partnered with Merck KGaA (Xetra:MRK) and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH...