Life Technologies inks $725M deal for Ion Torrent

Arming itself for a looming showdown with Illumina over the booming market for second-generation gene sequencing technologies, Life Technologies struck a deal to buy Ion Torrent for $375 million in cash and stock with $350 million more on the line based on a series of milestones. The deal gives Life Technologies a shot at introducing a gene sequencing device later this year that will be sold for less than $100,000, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. A variety of companies have been...

Biogen pays $80M to buddy up on PhIII ALS program

Biogen Idec is buddying up to Knopp Neurosciences with $80 million in cash and up to $245 million more in various milestones for marketing rights to a promising, late-stage ALS drug. Biogen will invest $60 million in the Pittsburgh, PA-based developer while providing another $20 million as an upfront for the company. The object of Biogen's desire is KNS-760704, an experimental therapy for Lou Gehrig's disease which hit its primary endpoint in a Phase II clinical trial. Knopp says that the...

BioMarin snares orphan drug upstart in $115M buyout

Continuing its year-long buying spree, BioMarin Pharmaceutical has agreed to pay up to $115 million to snare ZyStor Therapeutics and its preclinical candidate for Pompe disease. BioMarin is slapping down $22 million upfront to seal the deal, which will add an enzyme therapy scheduled to enter the clinic next year. The FDA has already approved ZyStor's IND app for ZC-701. And Novato, CA-based BioMarin, which specializes in orphan diseases, is pumped about its prospects. The deal "not only...

Biotech M&A frenzy shows no sign of slowing

With Genzyme in the news, we've all been hearing plenty about the wave of M&A deals  that's been rolling through the world's life sciences industry. Last year Thomson Reuters tracked more than 1,400 such deals worth $206 billion worldwide, giving the Boston Globe the hard numbers it needs to assert that this is one trend that has yet to crest. The reasons are more than obvious at this stage of the consolidation game. Pharma companies are desperate for new products to replace those big...

Early-stage deals are getting a lot sweeter for biotechs

Ask just about any biotech CEO about licensing strategies and you can almost guarantee that at some point the chief will mention that the best deal valuations come after the developer has a solid set of proof-of-concept data. But the Wall Street Journal's Jason Douglas writes that the shopworn biotech strategy no longer applies in an age when Big Pharma companies are spending more on development and less on research. Citing a string of early-stage and preclinical biotech deals, the Journal...

Seattle Genetics scores $900M cancer pact with Genentech

Genentech has anted up $12 million to expand its development pact for Seattle Genetics' antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology. And the Seattle biotech will now be able to play for a pot of cash that could swell to $900 million in fees and milestones. Genentech has already shelled out $30 million to Seattle Genetics over the past eight years. Impressed by the technology's ability to match a tumor-targeting antibody with a cancer-killing toxin, Genentech now wants to expand its group of...

Shire forges $565M buyout deal for Movetis

Seeing a nice fit in the GI arena of specialty pharma and an open door to a bigger European presence, Shire has agreed to pay $565 million for Movetis (MOVE), a Belgian biotech which has one product on the market. Movetis's board has already agreed to Shire's offer of €19 per share, a 74 percent premium over yesterday's close. "This offer is a further remarkable milestone in Movetis' brief and dynamic history," said Staf Van Reet, the chairman of the board. "In October last year we...

Illumina nabs Helixis’ gene tech in $105M buyout deal

With an eye on the growing market for genetic lab products, Illumina today unveiled a deal to buy Helixis for up to $105 million. The genetic analysis equipment maker will now gain control of Helixis' real-time polymerase chain reaction system, which can be used to track the efficacy of cancer drugs or provide biologists with a unique insight on DNA activity. Illumina, which is paying $70 million up front and $35 million more based on certain contingencies, has some tough competition in the...

Regeneron inks $295M antibody discovery deal with Astellas

Regeneron's growing antibody expertise is paying off with a rich, newly renegotiated discovery deal with Japan's Astellas. The pharma company has decided to scrap its three-year-old collaboration--under which it paid Tarrytown, NY-based Regeneron $20 million a year to find promising new drug candidates--and agreed to hand over $165 million up front with a potential $130 million check due eight years from now. Provided Astellas is happy with the first half of the deal and re-ups for the second,...

How much is Genzyme worth?

The latest Genzyme sale saga goes on, though the most recent twist is getting hard to follow. According to a report in Bloomberg, Genzyme has rebuffed Sanofi's overture. But a report from Reuters claims that the real inside scoop is that Genzyme's (GENZ) board is weighing the informal takeover approach even though it doesn't want to sell. And Reuters adds that even though Bloomberg reported that the Boston biotech had directly pushed back at Sanofi, no direct message has been sent. Neither...