Biopharma alliance volume has dropped over the past five years, but in 2012, privately held out-licensers averaged better up-fronts than their publicly traded counterparts, according to Elsevier’s Strategic Transactions.

Alliance Pharma of the UK has agreed to buy the majority of the remaining assets of privately held Cambridge Laboratories for between £14.3 million and £16.4 million plus the value of inventory held at completion, which is expected on February 22nd.

Highlights from the Q2 2009 review of pharmaceutical and biotechnology dealmaking: In biopharma financing, the FOPO had a comeback bringing in $773 million with 11 transactions--a deal volume the public markets haven't achieved since Q1 2008. Cephalon and Dendreon led the pack, each with follow-on offerings exceeding the $100 million mark. There weren't the mega Big Pharma mergers done in previous months, however, there was a clear interest in generics as witnessed by Sanofi-Aventis' buyouts of two generics firms, and Watson and Novartis also getting in on the action, each through $1 billion+ acquisitions in this arena as well. As far as alliances were concerned, the top spot belongs to GlobeImmune, which granted Celgene exclusive worldwide rights to its {Targomen} cancer programs (including two clinical-stage candidates) in exchange for a potential $540 million pay day.Q2 also saw many companies shifting therapeutic focus to in-license products and candidates new to them in order to revive pipelines and beef up portfolios.

Biovail has acquired the US and Canadian rights to develop and commercialise Santhera Pharmaceuticals' JP-1730/fipamezole for the treatment of dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease.