Investment firm Bain Capital has reached an agreement to purchase Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma for approximately $3.3 billion, marking a significant shift for the centuries-old pharmaceutical division of Mitsubishi Chemical Group. The acquisition will transform the 350-year-old company into an independent entity, allowing it to continue its focus on vaccine development and pharmaceutical solutions for neurological, cardiometabolic, and immunological disorders. Bain Capital partner Ricky Sun highlighted Japan’s promising life sciences landscape, noting governmental and regulatory initiatives aimed at accelerating drug development processes.
Meanwhile, Bausch + Lomb’s attempts to separate from its parent company, Bausch Health, have hit a roadblock as sale discussions failed to produce a satisfactory outcome. Despite receiving interest from a private equity firm, the eye care specialist, which produces contact lenses, drops, and medications, was unable to secure an offer that the boards believed reflected its true long-term potential. While Bausch Health will maintain its 88% ownership stake for now, both companies maintain that complete separation remains their ultimate objective.
In clinical developments, Roche has announced promising results from its Phase 3 Regency trial, where a combination of its drug Gazyva with standard therapy showed improved outcomes for lupus nephritis patients. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrated that 46% of patients receiving the combination treatment experienced preserved kidney function, compared to 33% in the control group. These findings could pave the way for Gazyva, currently approved for lymphoma treatment, to receive regulatory approval for lupus treatment in the US and Europe.
X4 Pharmaceuticals has announced a significant restructuring, including a 30% reduction in its workforce, affecting 43 employees. The company plans to discontinue early-stage research activities and close its Vienna, Austria facility while redirecting resources to support the development and commercialization of mavorixafor (Xolremdi), which has received approval for WHIM syndrome and is in late-stage trials for chronic neutropenia. The restructuring is expected to reduce annual expenses by $30-35 million and extend the company’s operational runway into 2026.
In a more dramatic development, Viracta Therapeutics has announced the termination of its entire workforce, approximately 16 employees, and will cease operations. The company’s board has appointed Craig Albert as president and CEO to oversee the company’s wind-down process and seek potential buyers for its main asset – an experimental drug combination tested in Epstein-Barr virus-related cancers. This decision follows two rounds of layoffs earlier in 2024, implemented to preserve the company’s cash reserves, which stood at $13 million as of September’s end. Viracta, which entered the public market in 2020 through a merger with Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, will now focus on finding a buyer for its assets as it winds down operations.