Sycamore Biopharma, Inc.

This week, Walgreens revealed how its take-private deal came together. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the filing : Walgreens and Sycamore expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of this year. — Lydia (This is an edition of the Endpoints News Health Tech newsletter. Subscribe here to get it directly in your inbox.) HERE’S WHAT’S NEW UnitedHealth reports ‘unusual and unacceptable’ earnings as Medicare costs climb UnitedHealth Group reported disappointing first-quarter earnings and cut its financial guidance, hit by high costs in its Medicare Advantage business. Click gets FDA authorization for preventive migraine digital therapeutic In a sign of life for the digital therapeutics industry, Click Therapeutics has received FDA authorization for its treatment. GeneDx to buy Fabric Genomics for up to $51M The deal is a bid to speed up the diagnosis of genetic diseases. Congress should bar PBMs from owning pharmacies, state attorneys urge A bipartisan group of 39 state attorneys general is calling on congressional leadership to pass a bill that would prohibit PBMs from owning or operating their own pharmacies. THIS WEEK IN HEALTH TECH

全球医疗行业每日重点资讯 文 | 苏丁 企业动态 美国最大连锁药店运营商沃尔格林联合博姿集团(WBA)宣布，已与私募股权公司Sycamore Partners达成协议，将以约100亿美元的股权价值被私有化收购。Sycamore将以每股11.45美元现金收购沃尔格林，较该股周四收盘价溢价约8%。未来，沃尔格林将出售包括Village Medical、Summit Health和CityMD在内的初级保健业务。沃尔格林表示，如果包括债务和未来可能的支出，这笔交易的总价值将高达237亿美元。 德国制药和化工巨头默克集团(Merck Group)公布2024年全年业绩。全年净销售额211.56亿欧元，上年为209.93亿欧元。全年营业利润(EBIT)36.45亿欧元，上年为36.09亿欧元。全年税后利润27.86亿欧元，上年为28.34亿欧元。其中，第四季度净销售额54.18亿欧元，上年同期为52.25亿欧元。按业务划分，生命科学业务全年净销售额89.16亿欧元，医药健康业务全年净销售额84.55亿欧元，电子科技业务全年净销售额37.85亿欧元。 美国创新医疗器械企业4C Medical Technologies宣布完成1.75亿美元D轮融资。本轮由波士顿科学与HHF赋远投资联合领投，原股东追加投资，资金将重点支持其核心产品AltaValve经导管二尖瓣置换系统的全球临床与商业化布局。 Callio Therapeutics宣布完成1.87亿美元A轮融资。此次融资由Frazier Life Sciences领投。公司计划利用A轮融资的收益为其HER2靶向双有效载荷ADC和第二个未公开的ADC项目实现临床概念验证。 Angsana Molecular & Diagnostics Laboratory和Pathnova Laboratories宣布通过合并成立Archerfish Precision Diagnostics Private Limited （公司中文名简称：安祺飞）。此次战略整合汇聚了两家领先实验室的互补优势——Angsana实验室擅长分子诊断，Pathnova实验室专精血清学与人工智能——合并后的安祺飞将成为先进诊断解决方案的行业领军者。 迪安诊断技术集团股份有限公司与深圳华大基因科技有限公司正式签署战略合作协议。双方将探索在精准医疗、AI与数字化、平台共建、学科建设等领域的深度协同，构建从技术研发到产业落地的完整闭环，驱动医疗服务的智能化升级与普惠化发展。 恩华药业发布公告，拟出资350万美元购买NeuroThree Therapeutics,Inc.（三晟医药）Pre-A轮优先股1250万股，此次交易完成后公司将持有三晟医药10.448%的股权，三晟医药将成为公司的参股公司。三晟医药成立于2021年4月，是一家专注于中枢神经领域新药研究和试验的全球性公司。 百世传媒/药方舟CTO陈辰博士官宣了一项里程碑式的突破：百世旗下首个医药行业DeepSeek大模型——“问问AI”正式免费开放。“问问AI”是专为医药行业打造的垂直领域模型，基于DeepSeek技术架构，深度融合了百世传媒160个月积累的行业数据。模型已覆盖研发、生产、临床、服务全链条场景。 产业动态 美国疫苗厂商Moderna表示，该公司有望于2027年推出首个肿瘤疫苗。Moderna正在与默沙东共同开发一款个性化的肿瘤疫苗，并已对严重的皮肤癌（黑色素瘤）患者进行后期临床试验。与普通疫苗接种后防止疾病发生不同，Moderna等公司正在研发的肿瘤疫苗是一种治疗性的疫苗，作为一种癌症治疗手段，促使免疫系统破坏癌细胞，从而预防肿瘤的复发。 诺和诺德表示，将通过一家新的直接面向消费者的在线药房，以每月不到正常价格一半的费用提供其减肥药司美格鲁肽（Wegovy）。这项现金支付的购药方案面向数百万没有该款畅销注射剂保险覆盖的患者，比如那些享受美国医疗保险的患者。这家名为诺和关怀（NovoCare）的药房，将允许患者每月支付499美元现金来购买这款每周注射一次的药物。在扣除保险和其他返利之前，司美格鲁肽的标价约为每月1350美元。 诺和诺德举办媒体沟通会，全球管理层分享了多疾病领域的创新要点。诺和诺德正通过一系列临床研究，进一步挖掘司美格鲁肽在心血管代谢领域更广泛的治疗潜力，并根据从中获得的经验，打造心血管代谢领域差异化的未来产品组合。值得一提的是，诺和诺德已在GLP-1与胰淀素二者的联合作用机制方面取得重要进展。在罕见病治疗领域，诺和诺德目标开发药物管线，推动血友病管理和其他罕见血液疾病如镰状细胞病的重大变革。 亿帆医药与拜耳医药保健有限公司就拜耳旗下经典靶向药拜万戈和多吉美签订商业化合作协议。亿帆医药获得拜耳旗下经典靶向药拜万戈和多吉美在中国大陆地区的独家市场推广权益。拜万戈适用于转移性结直肠癌、胃肠道间质瘤及肝细胞癌患者的治疗，多吉美适用于晚期肾细胞癌、肝细胞癌及放射性碘难治性分化型甲状腺癌患者的治疗。 云顶新耀宣布，公司自主研发的首款新型mRNA个性化肿瘤治疗性疫苗EVM16已在北京大学肿瘤医院顺利完成首例患者给药。EVM16是一款云顶新耀自研、AI算法驱动识别肿瘤新抗原的新型mRNA个性化肿瘤治疗性疫苗。根据每位患者特有的肿瘤细胞突变，使用自主研发且具备自我迭代能力的EVER-NEO-1“妙算”肿瘤新抗原人工智能AI算法系统，识别出具有较高免疫原性的肿瘤新抗原，并设计出编码数十种肿瘤新抗原的mRNA治疗性疫苗。 复星医药自主研发的1类新药丁二酸复瑞替尼胶囊的上市申请于近日获国家药品监督管理局受理。该新药主要用于治疗ALK阳性非小细胞肺癌、ROS1阳性非小细胞肺癌等，本次申报适应症为用于间变性淋巴瘤激酶（ALK）阳性的局部晚期或转移性非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者的治疗。 合成生物产业批量转化平台揭牌仪式在力合科创（广州）创新中心举办。该平台旨在聚集合成生物产业上下游企业，共同推进区域合成生物产业发展。该平台将依托力合科创的科技创新资源和区域产业优势，通过将科研机构、高等院校与产业界紧密结合，共同构筑集技术研发、成果转化、产业孵化及市场推广于一体的生态系统。 澳大利亚初创公司Cortical Labs正式发布全球首台商用生物计算机CL1。CL1首次将碳基人类活体神经元与硅基芯片深度融合，构建出先进的合成生物智能神经网络：神经元受刺激后可向芯片发送信号，芯片则以脉冲信号反馈，实现高效的信息处理。CL1耗能极低，具备自我组织、自适应学习的能力，能够完成复杂任务。 联系美通社 +86-10-5953 9500 info@prnasia.com

Walgreens is entering a new chapter as it agrees to sell itself to a private equity firm, ending its rocky run as a publicly traded company. New York-based Sycamore Partners is acquiring the retail pharmacy chain for $11.45 a share in cash, the two announced Thursday. This prices the deal at around $10 billion in equity value, though the total value of the transaction, which includes debts that Sycamore would have to take up among other things, adds up to $23.7 billion. “While we are making progress against our ambitious turnaround strategy, meaningful value creation will take time, focus and change that is better managed as a private company,” CEO Tim Wentworth said in a statement. “Sycamore will provide us with the expertise and experience of a partner with a strong track record of successful retail turnarounds.” The take-private deal marks the end of Walgreens’ almost century-long run of listing its shares on the stock market as the company grapples with a drop in consumer spending, competition from online stores, an expensive purchase of a clinic chain and lower reimbursement rate for drugs, all of which worked together to drag its market value down to around just $8 billion from over $100 billion in 2015. It hired Wentworth in 2023 to turn the business around. In October, the company said it plans to close 1,200 pharmacies across the country to cut costs. The company also said it will stop giving out dividends to shareholders during its quarterly earnings in January. The company currently runs multiple businesses, including its UK pharmacy chain Boots and US primary care provider chain VillageMD, after its merger with Alliance Boots in 2014. If Sycamore sells Walgreens’ healthcare businesses, such as Summit Health or CityMD, shareholders could get up to $3 more per share, the organizations said. Shares of Walgreens climbed to over $11 after the markets closed on Thursday. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year and includes a shopping period of 35 days that would let Walgreens court any other potential buyers. It’s a big healthcare investment for Sycamore Partners, which has historically focused on retail and consumer companies such as office supply chain Staples and discount retailer Dollar Express. The firm bought Staples in 2017 for around $6.9 billion. (This story is from our Health Tech newsletter. If you’d like to sign up, just click here. )