Business cocktail

Bayer and Berkeley Lights embark on a project to automate drug discovery

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer and Berkeley Lights have announced their collaboration to conduct a strategic project on a discovery platform aimed to automate antibody discovery and development of cell lines. Bayer and Berkeley Lights’ platform- Beacon- aims to automate biological processes in the drug development process.

Merger between Rocket and Inotek bags Nasdaq listing, aims to conduct gene therapy trials

Rocket Pharmaceuticals merged with Inotek through reverse merger process, and grabbed a NASDAQ listing in the process. The deal has now started the process of gene therapy research, and Inotek pharmaceuticals resources will help start some clinical trials on the same. The deal spells out the shareholding capacity of Rocket to 81%, leaving Inotek 19%. This stake provides information of the value Inotek has on the Nasdaq listing, all of what was left of its $27.6 million cash it had at the last count.

Onexo’s failure in Phase 3 hepatocellular carcinoma spells disaster for the company

Livatag, Onxeo’s drug for hepatocellular carcinoma, has failed to show superiority against the active comparator in the clinical trials in its HCC trial. The results led to a 50% decline in the share price of Onexo as investors readjusted to the decreased expectations from the doxorubicin-loaded nanoparticle candidate.

Funding round provides BridgeBio Pharma $135M for genetic disease work

The Californian biotech company, BridgeBio Pharma, earned $135 million to develop its genetic disease R&D portfolio. This funding came through a spectrum of funders as well as investors, including Viking Global Investors, which is a new investor, along with old players of the market such as KKR. Apart from these two, Perceptive Advisors, AIG, Aisling Capital, Cormorant Capital and Janus Funds also joined the fray.