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The licensing agreement between Zymeworks and Daiichi Sankyo (https://www.daiichi-sankyo.ch/de/), started in 2016, has been expanded to allow Daiichi Sankyo to acquire licenses to Azymetric and Efect technology platforms in order to develop two additional bispecific antibody therapeutics. Zymeworks will receive an upfront technology access fee of US$18 million and may receive up to US$466.7 million in potential clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.

Japanese’s pharma company Astellas Pharma https://www.astellas.com/announced its “Strategic Plan 2018”, comprehensive of the restructuring of operations in Japan and of the introduction of an early retirement incentive program. The goal is to optimise the organisational capabilities of the company, according to which all operations will be restructured, including R&D and Sales & Marketing, and its group companies in Japan.

Takeda https://www.takeda.com/closed the agreement to sell its majority shareholding of 51.34% in Guangdong Techpool Bio-Pharma, the Chinese company specialised in the research, discovery and marketing of urinary protein biopharmaceuticals and production of biopharmaceuticals in critical care. The shareholding is to be acquired in an all-cash by Takeda’s joint venture partner in Techpool: Shanghai Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. and a fund managed by SFund International Investment Fund Management Limited.

The new integrated Asian Veterinary Research & Development (R&D) Center of Boehringer Ingelheim (https://careers.boehringer-ingelheim.com/), the second largest animal health company, has been officially inaugurated in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park. The center is a consequence of the merger between Boehringer and Merial and is the largest of its kind established by a multinational pharmaceutical company in China.

The US Department of Justice finally granted on May 29th Bayer the conditional approval for the acquisition of Monsanto (http://monsanto/). The merger will give rise to the leading player in agricuture. According to the DOJ’s conditional approval, the integration of Monsanto into Bayer can take place as soon as the divestments to BASF have been accomplished. This is expected to be in approximately two months, said Bayer, which expects to receive any outstanding approvals required for completing the transaction very shortly.

Eli Lilly (https://www.lilly.com/) closed the agreement to acquire AurKa Pharma. This last one was established by TVM Capital Life Science to develop the Aurora kinase A inhibitor AK-01 for oncology indications; the compound was originally discovered at Lilly and represents a potential first-in-class asset, as Aurora kinases are believed to play a crucial role in cellular division by controlling chromosomal segregation. After the completion of phase 1 trials, new studies will seek to determine if the selectivity profile of AK-01 can improve efficacy while limiting toxicity risks to a manageable level.

The PGT Healthcare (https://us.pg.com/) partnership between Teva and Procter & Gamble has been terminated after seven years. The collaboration was focused on the joint market of OTC medicines; the separation should become effective since July 1, 2018. The decision, according to Teva, is due to no longer closely aligned priorities and strategies of the two partners. Each company will now take back its own brand and product assets to re-establish independent OTC businesses.

The sale and licence of the rights to Seroquel and Seroquel XR in the UK, China and other international markets have been granted by AstraZeneca (https://www.astrazeneca.com/) to Luye Pharma Group Ltd (http://www.luye-pharm.com/lvye_en/). Seroquel is a medicinal product for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disease that has lost its compound IP protection globally; Seroquel XR formulation patents have also expired in many markets. According to the company, Luye Pharma will pay AstraZeneca $538m.The transaction is expected to close by the end of Q2 2018.

The L.A.U.N.C.H. (Linking & Amplifying User-Centered Networks through Connected Health) program will use human-centered design methodologies to identify the needs of cancer patients, caregivers and healthcare providers and use them to develop and deliver a connected solution to better manage cancer symptoms. The initiative is a collaboration between Amgen and the National Cancer Institute, the Federal Communications Commission Connect2Health Task Force, the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center and the University of California, San Diego Design Lab. The project will initially focus on underserved populations in rural, Appalachian Kentucky, and aims to develop a model for future symptom management projects.

The new K.C. Nicolaou Research Accelerator has been jointly established by AbbVie (https://www.abbvie.com/) and Rice University Houston and will focus its activities on the synthesis of novel cytotoxic agents against cancer. The  new laboratory will be led by Dr. Nicolaou – the first to achieve the full synthesis of the cancer drug paclitaxel – and it will represent a new model integrative and deeper collaborative structure connecting industry and university.