Celtic Pharma to buy biotech group

CELTIC PHARMA, a private equity fund backed by Corkman Stephen Evans-Freke, is buying British biotech group Xenova for up to £26.1 million.

Celtic said yesterday it aims to raise over £549m from investors for further deals.

“We’re aiming to bridge the gap between the biotech sector, which has been essentially abandoned by capital markets over the past few years, and the growing pipeline crisis in the pharmaceutical industry,” Mr Evans-Freke said.