Drug Companies Update May 2007
Mergers, acquisitions & Joint Ventures
- Eisai has acquired Morphotek, which will remain as a subsidiary.
- GlaxoSmithKline has acquired Praecis Pharmaceuticals, which is to remain a wholly-owned subsidiary.
- Ecopia Biosciences and Caprion Pharmaceuticals have merged to form a new corporation, Thallion Pharmaceuticals.
- Kirin Brewery has acquired fellow Japanese company Mercian, which will remain as a subsidiary.
- Monoclonal Antibodies Therapeutics has changed its name to MAT Biopharma.
- Paradigm Therapeutics has been acquired by Takeda and renamed Takeda Cambridge. Paradigm Therapeutics Singapore has been renamed Takeda Singapore.
- Shire has acquired New River Pharmaceuticals, which will operate as a subsidiary.
- SR Pharma has changed its name to Silence Therapeutics.
- Autoimmune focussed company, The Immune Response Corporation has changed its name to Orchestra Therapeutics.
- Valera Pharmaceuticals has been acquired by Indevus Pharmaceuticals.
New Companies
- Alethia Biotherapeutics is a Canadian biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of cancer therapies.
- US-based Amira is a private company focused on developing new drugs to treat inflammatory diseases.
- AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals is developing drugs for complex diseases and orphan indications.
- ArGentis commercializes therapies that have demonstrated proof-of-concept in academic research laboratories, including opthalmological projects.
- Atlantic Healthcare is the holding company for an international conglomerate of companies, focused on speciality pharmaceuticals and contract clinical services.
- Drug delivery company Azaya Therapeutics, applies its protein stabilized liposomes (PSL) nanotechnology platform to currently-approved drugs..
- Blanca Pharmaceuticals discovers and develops parenteral and oral carbacephem antibiotics.
- Brane Discovery is a spin-off from Nikem research, developing treatments for chronic pain and neurodegenerative diseases.
- UK-based Circassia is developing Peptide Antigen Desensitisation technology as an immunotherapy for allergies.
- EUSA Pharma is a privately-owned company with a portfolio of speciality hospital medicines.
- Isolagen develops novel skin and tissue regeneration products for both aesthetic and therapeutic markets.
- Metabolic Research develops non-synthetic compounds for the treatment of arthritis, heart disease, metabolic and inflammatory diseases and cancer.
- Milford Sound Sciences is a pharmaceutical company that develops novel therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases.
- Morvus Technology is a UK-based pharmaceutical company focused on the development of anticancer products.
- Neuropharm is a pharmaceutical company engaged in the development of treatments for developmental and degenerative CNS disorders.
- Oramed Pharmaceuticals is an Israeli company focused on developing oral delivery solutions based on its proprietary technology.
- Oncology-focused Syndax Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company developing combination therapeutic regimens.
- Q Therapeutics is a US biotechnology company that develops cell therapies for degenerative diseases of the CNS.
- Symphony GenIsis was specifically formed to collaborate with Isis Pharmaceuticals on selected clinical compounds.
- T2cure is focused on developing novel progenitor cell-based regenerative therapies for cardiac and peripheral vascular diseases.
- Texas-based Uluru is focused on the development of wound management, plastic surgery and oral care products.
