Wugen has worked on its platform in stealth mode while co-founders at Washington University in St. Louis tested initial product WU-NK-101 in AML. Its new funding will support company-sponsored trials. 

Plus deals involving I-Mab/Complix, Lupin/Endoceutics, Genome & Co/Pfizer/Merck KGaA, Genome & Co/Debiopharm, Exelixis/WuXi, Intas/Foresee, Wugen/Alpha Biosciences

A roundup of recent medtech strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions and financings.

As a small company selling into the fragmented wound care markets, Integra was spending as much as it was making. As a platform biomaterials company, Integra faced partnership risk and stood to only get a cut of end-user revenues. It needed a source of direct revenues. A year ago, the company's new CEO began building a neurosurgery business through acquisitions, initially based on mature, revenue-producing products. The strategy seems to be working; the company reached profitability in the last quarter and now holds the third position in a fragmented neurosurgery market. But the incremental strategy that has brought Integra to profitability inherently has its limitations. Now that it has created a growth expectation, it needs to achieve critical mass, through increasingly larger acquisitions or home-run products.