April 30 Quick Takes: Pfizer to co-develop Valneva’s Lyme disease vaccine; plus Aravive-WuXi Biologics, Siga-BARDA, Pear, Capricor

Valneva gets $130M up front in Lyme disease vaccine deal
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) will collaborate with Valneva SE (Euronext:VLA) to develop VLA15, the biotech’s vaccine candidate for Lyme disease. In a deal announced Thursday, Valneva will receive $130 million up front and is eligible for $178 million in milestones; Pfizer is to pay 70% of development costs and royalties starting at 19%. The partners said VLA15, which targets ospA and is in Phase II testing, is the only vaccine for Lyme disease now in development. Valneva gained €1 (32%) to €4.19 Thursday.

Aravive, WuXi Biologics in deal for cancer and fibrosis target
Aravive Inc. (NASDAQ:ARAV) said it will use the WuXiBody platform of WuXi Biologics Inc. (HKSE:2269) to develop bispecific antibodies targeting CTGF, which is implicated in cancer and fibrosis. Terms of the partners’ agreement are undisclosed. The two companies previously collaborated to develop Aravive’s most advanced clinical candidate, AVB-500, an Fc fusion protein that targets the AXL/GAS6 pathway...