Tag: LifeArc

LifeArc launches £10 million research fund to address the challenges of COVID-19

Stuart Mitchell

LifeArc, a UK-based medical research charity, has created a £10 million fund to support research to accelerate the development and testing of therapeutics that can be rapidly deployed to treat the symptoms of COVID-19. The charity is seeking applications from academics or companies that have therapeutics that could be repurposed or repositioned for use in COVID-19 patients. Explaining the urgency of the issue, Melanie Lee, CEO, LifeArc said: “COVID-19 represents a global emergency. The development and manufacture of a vaccine is at least a year away. There is a clear,…

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LifeArc monetises Keytruda® royalty interests to fund further research and investment

Stuart Mitchell

LifeArc, a UK-based medical research charity, has received US$1.297 billion from CPPIB Credit Europe S.à r.l. – a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) – for a portion of its royalty interest in Keytruda® pembrolizumab), MSD’s anti-PD-1 therapy. LifeArc secured rights to royalties from pembrolizumab as a result of the charity’s 2007 collaboration to humanise the antibody-based therapy now marketed by MSD. The transaction will make LifeArc one of the UK’s leading medical research charities by size of its investment assets and allows it to significantly…

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