Biotech M&A Activity Expected to Rise in 2017: Latest Reports on Tenax Therapeutics and ZIOPHARM Oncology

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 30, 2017 / The Biotech Industry witnessed a drop in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity amidst a slump in 2016. The Nasdaq Biotech Index declined roughly 22 percent in 2016. M&A activity within the Biotech Industry totaled 326 deals worth approximately $91 billion in 2016, compared to $118 billion the year prior, according to Bloomberg. Also the number of M&A deals in the sector in 2016 was the lowest total in six years. Research & development productivity of 12 of the biggest biopharma companies, which was measured by annual projected R&D returns, hit a 7 year low in 2016, according to a recent study completed by Deloitte. With many large firms having more cash available, giving them plenty of firepower for larger number of in M&A activities in 2017.

“With a large gap remaining between large BioPharma’s actual and desired revenues, and historically high amounts of cash on hand, look for an uptick of larger acquisition targets,” says David Risinger, an analyst for Morgan Stanley who covers big pharma. “This is particularly true of the U.S. BioPharma industry, where the amount of cash on hand is greater and intentions more focused.”

Tenax Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: TENX)

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Tenax Therapeutics’ shares spiked 19.34 percent to close at $2.16 a share Friday. The stock traded between $1.75 and $2.22 on volume of 1.84 million shares traded. Tenax’s development portfolio includes novel product candidates that have the potential to address various critical care conditions with high unmet medical need. The company is currently developing levosimendan in North America for the reduction in morbidly and mortality of cardiac surgery patients at risk of low cardiac output syndrome. Levosimendan has been granted the Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Adminsitration.

ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIOP)

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ZIOPHARM Oncology’s shares jumped 5.47 percent to close at $5.78 a share Friday. The stock traded between $5.48 and $5.79 on volume of 1.13 million shares traded. On January 10th, the company and Intrexon Corp. announced the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the development of adoptive cell transfer (ACT)-based immunotherapies genetically modified using the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon/transposase system to express T-cell receptors (TCRs) for the treatment of solid tumors.

“Treating liquid tumors with chimeric antigen receptors has yielded extraordinary results with genetically engineered T cells and the next stage in the evolution of this immunotherapy is the expression of T-cell receptors to target solid tumors,” said Laurence Cooper, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of ZIOPHARM.

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