Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - (Page 6)

6 News & Analysis January 2008 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe News & Analysis For more on these news stories and all the latest breaking pharma news, look at our website www.pharmexeceurope.com, which now features daily updates, interactive surveys and dedicated sections for your particular area of interest. M&A Cambrex Karlskoga AB (Sweden) has entered into a purchase agreement for all of the stock of ProSyntest AS (Estonia), a privately held API research and development company. ProSyntest, formed in 1990 as a spinoff from Tallinn University of Technology, has strengths in cost effective chemical route selection and sample generation, rapid scaleup of products at kilo lab scale, as well as chiral and organometallic chemistries. The business will be renamed Cambrex Tallinn after completion of the acquisition. Elekta AB (Publ) (Sweden) is in exclusive negotiations based on a Letter of Intent to acquire CMS Inc (US) for a total cash consideration representing an enterprise value of $75 million. The transaction is subject to successful conclusion of final transaction documentation, satisfactory completion of due diligence, receipt of relevant regulatory approvals and other conditions. The negotiations are expected to be finalised by midFebruary 2008 and closing is estimated to take place by midMarch 2008. FINANCE Oxford Finance Corporation (UK) and GE Healthcare Financial Services (US) have provided a joint £7.5 million senior secured loan to Astex Therapeutics Limited (UK). Astex Therapeutics, a privately-held biotech, concentrates on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs in areas of unmet medical need, with a primary focus on oncology. Astex has an expanding pipeline of products in clinical and preclinical development. Forbion Capital Partners (the Netherlands) has led a €30 million Series B financing of Fovea Pharmaceuticals SA (France). Alongside Forbion, this financing was supported by a strong, international syndicate of new and existing investors, including all Fovea’s existing institutional investors; Sofinnova Partners (France), Abingworth (UK), GIMV (Belgium), The Wellcome Trust (UK) and Crédit Agricole Private Equity (France). Fovea plans to use the proceeds from this financing to advance its clinical and preclinical pipeline and further develop its technology platform. In 2008, Fovea expects to advance its FOV1101 programme for chronic allergic conjunctivitis into Phase II clinical trials and to initiate Phase II studies of its FOV2302 and FOV2301 programmes for the treatment of acute and diabetic macular oedema respectively. The company expects to bring its fourth drug candidate, FOV2501, a protein discovered by Pr Jose Sahel’s team, into clinical trials in the first half of 2009. Santaris Pharma (Denmark) has completed a Series C €20.4 million (DKK 152 million) private investment round. Gilde Healthcare Partners (the Netherlands), a new investor in the company, contributed €7.5 million (DKK 56 million) of the financing, with the remaining €12.9 million (DKK 96 million) provided by an international syndicate of existing investors, including BankInvest (Denmark), Novo Ventures (Denmark), LD Pensions (Denmark), Forbion Capital Partners (the Netherlands), Global Life Science Venture (Germany), Sunstone Capital (Denmark), Seventure (France), Omega (US), Innovation Capital (Australia and US) and members of the company’s board and management. In connection with the financing Edwin de Graaf from Gilde Healthcare Partners will join the Board of Directors of Santaris Pharma. The proceeds of the financing will be used primarily to fund continued development of Santaris Pharma’s pipeline of innovative RNA antagonist drug candidates based on its breakthrough LNA chemistry. info@clinphone.com www.clinphone.com sponsored by http://clinphone.com http://clinphone.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008

Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008
Contents
From the Editor
News and Analysis
Calendar
Corporate Strategy: Walking the Line
Executive Profile: The Pharmacist’s Friend
Q&A: An End to Drug Counterfeiting
Healthcare Cost Assessment: Ready to Make NICE?
Pricing and Reimbursement: Through the Reimbursement Barriers
Generics: India Inc.
The Mix: New Models of Excellence
Last Word: Mid-size Matters

Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008