UK Life science VC investors cheer planned IPO of Autolus Three high-profile UK life science investors – Syncona (SYNC), Arix Bioscience (ARIX) and Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) – could benefit from the possible US IPO of the engineered T-cell therapy company, Autolus, following that company’s disclosure yesterday of a filing of a confidential draft F1 submission. All three investors hold […]
Core trust holding Biogen hit by withdrawal of MS drug Core trust holding Biogen is seeing its stock come under further pressure as a result of a decision, announced today with its partner Abbvie, to withdraw for safety reasons the recently-launched multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment Zinbryta. The drug was launched in 2016 for third-line use in MS […]
Swiss trusts top performers among bio sector specialists in Feb – Switzerland’s HBM Healthcare Investments (HBMN.S) and BB Biotech (BBB.S) were the best performing biotech/pharma specialist investment trusts in February and indeed were the only ones of the 13 monitored by Marten & Co to have recorded any increase in NAV (in sterling terms) in the month. However, […]
Syncona records flat month for NAV in January with small share price rise UK hybrid biotech investor/fund-of-funds Syncona (SYNC) recorded an essentially flat month for NAV in January, with a small decline overall recorded for its three largest investments – presumably in part related to the weakening of the dollar – offset by a gain of an […]
International Biotech records modest rise in NAV in Jan SV Health-managed International Biotech Trust (IBT) reported a 1.4% rise in NAV and saw a 0.4% rise in its share price in January, according to its latest monthly update. The outcome was a little under the 2% rise in the sterling adjusted value of the NASDAQ […]
HBM investee ObsEva reports successful trail of IVF drug HBM Healthcare Investments (HBMN.S) investee ObsEva (Nasdaq: OBSV) has reported positive results in the Implant2 phase III trial of nolasiban, an oxytocin receptor antagonist, for improving pregnancy rates associated with in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). ObsEva is currently HMB Healthcare’s tenth largest holding, accounting for 2.3% of its […]
Worldwide Health swaps out Lilly for Merck OrbiMed-managed Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) appears to have boosted its shareholding Merck & Co at the expense of Eli Lilly over the last few weeks, according to its latest update (see factsheet). Merck, which was outside the trust’s top 10 holdings in December, now ranks as the trust’s largest investment […]
Core trust holding Gilead gets the zinc finger Gilead Sciences took another major step in its strategy to dominate the burgeoning field of cell therapy for cancer yesterday, with a deal to secure exclusive access to Sangamo’s zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) gene editing technology for use in this field. The deal, in which Gilead paid […]
WPCT sees small decline in Jan NAV but greater share price fall Struggling Neil Woodford-managed Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) reported a small, ~0.6% decline in NAV in January, but has since seen a larger 11% decline in share price this month as investors have become increasingly concerned about its poor long-term performance and outlook. The decline […]
Biotech Growth notches up small rise in Jan, but outlook for Feb is weaker Orbimed-managed Biotech Growth Trust (BIOG) notched up a broadly in-line performance in the otherwise strong month of January, despite seeing a major setback for one of its top 10 holdings. However, its outlook for February is looking weaker, an analysis by Marten […]