July 21 Quick Takes: Verve raises $225M on back of Vertex deal, clinical milestone

Ten days after dosing the first patient with an in vivo base editing therapy and a day after announcing a discovery collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX), Verve Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:VERV) raised $225 million overnight in a bumped up follow-on. The company sold 8.3 million shares at $27, a 25% discount to the stock’s close of $35.91 on Wednesday. Verve proposed to raised $200 million in the deal. The stock fell 9% to $32.81 Thursday.

A law firm representing former Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) employee Michael Bawduniak said the company had agreed to pay $900 million to resolve a claim brought by Bawduniak that the company unlawfully paid kickbacks to physicians and other healthcare professionals. The settlement will be paid to the U.S. and the Medicaid programs of various states in resolution of the False Claims Act action, in which the U.S. did not intervene. In an email to BioCentury, a Biogen spokesperson said the company had “agreed in principle to settle a previously disclosed qui tam litigation relating to conduct prior to 2015” but did not confirm the dollar amount. ...