UKs biggest pharma firm announced it will save an additional £1bn each year by 2020. 80% of the pharmaceutical R&D pipeline expenses will be directed towards two current (Respiratory and HIV/infectious diseases) and two potential (Oncology and Immuno-inflammation) priority areas.
Belgian nanobody-developer Ablynx NV now also works together with French pharma company Sanofi. The deal is potentially worth 2.4bn but comes with an upfront payment of just 23m. The partners will initially focus on therapeutics for the treatment of various immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
Venture capitalist Seventure Partners announced that it has participated in a US$13m financing of Japanese biotech company Anaeropharma Science. The investment is made from Seventures Health for Life Capital investment vehicle.