Trust favourite Genmab hit by trial setback Denmark’s Genmab, a widely-held stock among the sector specialist investment trusts, has suffered a major setback in the past week with failure/termination of studies involving its lead product Darzalex, which is sold by Johnson & Johnson. The studies were both aimed at expanding the range of uses of Darzalex, […]
Biotech Growth blames large caps for 2017/18 under-performance OrbiMed-managed Biotech Growth Trust (BIOG) blamed an overweight position in large cap stocks for under-performance against the benchmark Nasdaq Biotechnology index (NBI) in the six months to March 2018 and financial year as a whole, having recorded a 6.7% fall in NAV against a 2.2% fall for […]
WPCT sees £43m drop in value of Prothena stake value Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) lost £43m on its investment in Prothena last month, following the failure of the company’s NEOD001 for AL amyloidosis, according to an analysis of its portfolio by Marten & Co. Having for some time last year been WPCT’s largest investment, […]
Biotech Growth doubles down on Biogen and Alexion OrbiMed-managed Biotech Growth Trust (BIOG) appears to have increased its already substantial positions in Biogen and Alexion and reduced (or possibly even sold) its previously large stake in Regeneron in the last month, according to its an analysis of its top holdings by Marten & Co. The […]
HBM boosts dividend by 20% after stellar year London-listed HBM Healthcare (HBMN) has proposed a CHF 7/share dividend for year to end April, a 20% rise, after a strong year in which it saw a 11% rise in NAV and 34% rise in share price, beating the broadest biotech index and all other sector specialist […]
Prothena drags WPCT to bottom of performance league table in April The fall in the value of its large investment in Prothena on negative results from two late-stage trials last month had a predictable effect on Woodford Patient Capital (WPCT)’s performance among the biotech-specialist closed end funds this year, although its relative underperformance extends over […]
HBM set to gain on Lilly buyout of investee Armo Swiss-listed HBM Healthcare (HBMN) looks set to see a significant boost to its already strong investment performance this year as a result of a deal that will see Eli Lilly buy one of its investee companies, the US biotech ARMO Biosciences. Lilly’s agreed deal to […]
Puretech digital health venture raises $55m LSE-listed healthcare venture firm Puretech Health (PRTC)’s digital health offshoot, Akili Interactive, has raised $55m in a series C financing. The move comes ahead of its planned FDA filing for a tablet-based video game for the treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This product, AKL-T01, would – if approved – become one […]
Syncona to benefit from Blue Earth value gain UK hybrid biotech investor/fund-of-funds Syncona (SYNC) should be able to take a c£64m increase in the value of its shareholding in Blue Earth Diagnostics this month, after the company was revalued on the back of an licensing agreement. The value of Syncona’s 90% holding in the diagnostics company will rise from £123.1m […]
Second Arix investee plans US IPO Arix Biosciences (ARIX), a LSE-listed life sciences VC investor, could potentially see two of its investee companies go public on the US stockmarkets in the coming weeks, after Iterum Therapeutics disclosed the filing of a Form S-1 registration statement with the US SEC. Iterium’s move comes after another Arix investee company, Autolus – […]
