In Vivo's Deals Of The Month, October 2017

In Vivo's editors pick October's most significant deals, including bold moves from Vir Biotechnology and the birth of a major generics player. (Free article.)

IV_DOTM_1200

Vir Biotechnology Inc. launched just 11 months ago, but has already amassed a $500 million war chest to battle infectious disease. It spent some of the money this month on potential billion-dollar strategic alliances with Visterra Inc. (development of up to six antibodies derived from Visterra's Hierotope platform) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.(evaluation of up to five RNAi therapeutics.) [See Deal][See Deal] Also in October, Vir forged research agreements with Harvard University, Oregon Health & Science University and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,licensed technology from Stanford University, and acquired Swiss biotech Humabs BioMed SA for good measure.

CNS rare disease specialist Harmony Biosciences LLC raised $270 million in early-stage equity financing and will use part of...

More from Deal-Making

Geopolitical Volatility Not Dimming A Healthy Mid-Term Outlook For Life Sciences Deals

 
• By 

New report by global law firm Taylor Wessing and Bayes Business School forecasts a steadily increasing volume of major life sciences M&A in the coming five years, but highlights concerns over cybersecurity and unrealistic valuations. Taylor Wessing partner Andrew Edge spoke to In Vivo.

Can Italy Shake Off Its Reputation And Become A Premier Hub For Biotech?

 
• By 

Leading industry experts have spoken to In Vivo about how investment, a change in mindset and a fresh approach to policy may allow Italy to kick-start its biotech ecosystem.

Deals In Depth: June 2025

 
• By 

Five $1bn+ alliances were penned in June, and four exceeded $2bn.

Deals Shaping The Industry, June 2025

 
• By 

An interactive look at pharma, medtech and diagnostics deals made during June 2025. Data courtesy of Biomedtracker.

More from In Vivo

Strategic Surprises: The Drugs That Rewrote The Forecasts

 

Many assets do not meet their pre-launch predictions, either exceeding or falling short of their forecast sales. In this article, In Vivo highlights several historic examples and the factors that influenced their unexpected performance.

Podcast: “They Are Able To Keep Their Body”: Medipost On Its Stem Cell Therapy Vision

 

In Vivo spoke with Edward Ahn, CEO of Medipost, a Korean company that has developed stem cell therapies from cord blood, on how they are working across regulatory markets to provide a novel treatment for degenerative diseases.

Can Italy Shake Off Its Reputation And Become A Premier Hub For Biotech?

 
• By 

Leading industry experts have spoken to In Vivo about how investment, a change in mindset and a fresh approach to policy may allow Italy to kick-start its biotech ecosystem.