The patent backlog at the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is likely to get worse before it gets better, especially as the March 16, 2013, deadline approaches for switching from the current first-to-invent system to the new first-to-file process laid out in the America Invents Act (AIA). Read More
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of the UK approved a 300-patient Phase III trial of Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc.'s DCVax-L for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Phase III is in full swing in the U.S., at 41 clinical sites, but Northwest seeks to expand the trial to international sites, starting in the UK, stating it will save several years' time by not carrying out separate U.S. and European trials. Read More
Relmada Therapeutics Inc., which last month closed the first $3 million in a planned $5 million Series A financing, is seeking to muscle in on the chronic pain space by moving three of its candidates into Phase III studies by the middle of 2013. Read More
• ImQuest BioSciences Inc., of Frederick, Md., said it received funding from the National Institutes of Health to support the development of a safe and effective microbicide product for both vaginal and rectal use. Read More
• Pacific Therapeutics Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it completed enrollment and initial dosing in its first clinical trial testing PTL-202 in healthy volunteers. Read More
• Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Mumbai, India, said the International Centre for Dispute Resolution ruled in Glenmark's favor on the arbitration claim filed in August 2011 against Napo Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Francisco, seeking, among other things, a ruling that Glenmark's exclusive rights to develop, commercialize and distribute Crofelemer in 140 countries for treatment of diarrheal diseases includes the exclusive rights to distribute through relief agencies in those countries and an injunction prohibiting Napo from sharing confidential information concerning the manufacture of Crofelemer. Read More
