Calif.-Based Gilead To Buy Nimbus’ Experimental Metabolic Disorder Pill
Gilead has been sitting on billions generated by its lucrative hepatitis C medicines and could pay up to $1.2 billion in the deal.
The Associated Press:
Gilead Paying Up To $1.2B For Nimbus Unit, Drug Candidate
Biologic drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. said Monday that it will buy a subsidiary of Nimbus Therapeutics LLC and its experimental pill for an increasingly common metabolic disorder that causes life-threatening fat buildup in the liver. Gilead, based in Foster City, California, will pay $400 million for Nimbus Apollo Inc. Parent company Nimbus Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, could receive another $800 million if Nimbus Apollo’s drug development program meets certain milestones in testing results and medicine approval and sales. (Johnson, 4/4)
The San Francisco Business TImes:
Gilead's $1.2B Deal Just The Latest Between Tiny Nimbus And A Biotech Giant
If you were to name the most-renowned biotech companies that a life sciences startup could target for partnerships, Genentech Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc. would easily top the list. As of today, the 20-employee Cambridge, Mass., startup Nimbus Therapeutics has the distinction of forging a deal with both of those firms. (Seiffert, 4/4)
In other marketplace news —
The San Francisco Business Times:
East Bay Robotics Company Wins More FDA Approvals For Exoskeleton For Stroke, Spinal Injury Victims
Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc., a Richmond-based company that makes robotic exoskeleton devices that help people rehabilitate after suffering strokes or spinal cord injuries, says it has won expanded regulatory clearance for its devices. (Rauber, 4/4)
The San Francisco Business Times:
Strength In Numbers — Or Why A Hot, Young Biotech And A Nonprofit Are Taking Aim At New ALS Targets
It's difficult to run a clinical trial tackling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease perhaps best known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Studies take time, and time is not something ALS patients have to give. The muscle-robbing disease typically kills patients two to five years after diagnosis. (Leuty, 4/4)
Bloomberg:
Edwards Hits Record As Aortic Valves Save More Lives In Study
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. surged to a record after researchers showed its latest heart valve lowered the risk of death and stroke in a broader group of people suffering from severe aortic stenosis, a finding that could swell the market for the products to $5 billion. Shares climbed 19 percent to $107.19 at 12:31 p.m. in New York, after gaining as much as 20 percent, the biggest intraday increase ever for the Irvine, California-based company. They had risen 28 percent in the past 12 months through Friday as investors waited for results of the study testing the heart valve, called Sapien 3. (Cortez, 4/4)