AstraZeneca buys therapy firm Neogene for £266m in latest bid to tackle cancer November 29, 2022 AstraZeneca has bought cancer cell therapy company Neogene Therapeutics for $320m (£266m), in the company’s latest investment in its oncology offering. The deal, which is set to close in the coming months, will see AstraZeneca pay $200m as cash in hand, and another $120m if Neogene meets certain milestones. The British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, behind one [...]
Govt boots legal but harmful provision from online safety bill November 28, 2022 The “legal but harmful” provision has been formally scrapped from the online safety bill, in a push to water down moderation and put greater focus on free speech protection. The provision, which would have allowed tech firms to remove content that wasn’t actually illegal, sparked controversy across free speech advocates raising concerns around overcensorship. However, [...]
Mayhem in Chinese hub could mean 6m iPhones losses for Apple November 28, 2022 Mayhem at Apple’s key iPhone hub could mean that six million Pros models are lost this year, in a major blow to the tech firm in the run up to the all-important Christmas period. Production has been stunted by protests at Foxconn Technology’s Zhengzhou production factory over the past few weeks, as well as impending [...]
Carlyle unveils £2.6bn to pump into European technology firms November 28, 2022 US asset manager Carlyle has rallied together over €3bn (£2.6bn) for a European fund to help grow mid-market technology firms in the continent. The fund, called Carlyle European Partners and headed by two former investment bankers, has exceeded its €2.5bn (£2.2bn) target in less than a year of fundraising, the buyout firm told Reuters. The [...]
Semiconductor industry’s grip on globe to loosen next year in economic downturn November 28, 2022 The semiconductor sector is bracing for slipping demand next year, as the grip the industry had on consumer and industrial-facing businesses loosens. Global revenue generated by computer chips, crucial bits of tech used in most of today’s electronics, is expected to fall 3.6 per cent in 2023, according to tech research and consulting giant Gartner. [...]
Drug developer C4X shares fly after signing £330m AstraZeneca licensing deal November 28, 2022 Drug developer C4X Discovery has signed an exclusive licensing agreement worth up to $402m (£334m) with pharma giant AstraZeneca to develop oral therapy to treat inflammatory diseases. London-listed C4XD’s shares have rocketed this morning, up nearly 40 per cent to 28.5p so far. As part of the deal, C4XD will receive pre-clinical milestone payments worth up [...]
Software firm RM to sell Integris and Finance Business arms for £16m November 28, 2022 Education sector tech firm RM has announced the sale of its RM Integris and RM Finance Business software businesses for £16m. The London-listed firm said an initial consideration of £12m in cash would be paid on completion, adjusted to reflect a normalised working capital position of the two firms. Proceeds from the sale will go [...]
UK ‘missing out’ on semiconductor inward investment November 28, 2022 The UK is ‘missing out’ on semiconductor inward investment as international competition heats up, says a new parliamentary report. MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee singled out cooperation with the US under the CHIPS Act and engagement with Taiwan as possible areas that could yield opportunities for the booming sector. Globally, the semiconductor [...]
TikTok calls in tech start-ups to help with ecommerce push November 27, 2022 TikTok has called in tech start-ups to boost its ecommerce operations in a desperate attempt to diversify revenue streams. According to initial reports from the Financial Times, TikTok’s parent firm Bytedance has been working with YunExpress as a logistics partner to get its social commerce offering off the ground on a more global scale. It [...]
Online safety bill to criminalise encouraging self-harm November 27, 2022 The long-awaited online safety bill is set to criminalise content that encourages self-harm as it attempts to beef up protections. While encouraging suicide is already illegal, there is widespread concern about material on the internet that encourages people to harm themselves. The recent inquest into the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell found that unsafe online [...]