Dimension Therapeutics Inc.'s $20 million up-front gene therapy deal – with the potential for $232 million in milestone payments – comes less than a year after the company was founded and draws to the table Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc., which gains rights to "the strategic must-have for them to maintain an ongoing presence in the hemophilia A space," said Dimension's CEO and co-founder Thomas Beck. Read More
LONDON – Claiming to have "transformed" the company since becoming CEO a year ago, Flemming Ornskov set out the case for how his stewardship of Shire plc can deliver greater value to shareholders than agreeing to Abbvie Inc.'s $46 billion offer. Read More
Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. gained FDA approval Friday evening for Sivextro (tedizolid phosphate), realizing the first big payoff from its $704 million acquisition of Trius Therapeutics Inc. Read More
Not yet 2 years old, Atara Biotherapeutics filed for a $50 million initial public offering (IPO), making it one of 33 pending biotech IPOs as 2014 nears the end of its second quarter. Read More
Is a seven-month improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) in a subgroup of a single clinical trial enough to grant accelerated approval to Astrazeneca plc's olaparib as the first maintenance therapy for BRCA-mutated ovarian cancers? Read More
HONG KONG – After decades of trials, blind alleys and false starts, a vaccine for dengue is finally close to market, and patients in Asia may be among the first to benefit from it. Read More
HONG KONG – Just months before the launch of a vaccination campaign, Japan has approved an extended indication for Pfizer Inc.'s pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to cover the elderly. Read More
Galectin Therapeutics Inc., of Norcross, Ga., reported that a preclinical study in a mouse model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), or fatty liver disease, demonstrated that oral administration of the company's lead galectin-3 inhibitor, GR-MD-02, resulted in significant disease improvement. Read More
Clarus Therapeutics Inc., of Northbrook, Ill., presented phase III data from two studies at the ICE/ENDO 2014 meeting in Chicago, showing that Rextoro (testosterone undecanoate), an oral testosterone replacement product, met its endpoints in both studies testing the drug in male adults with hypogonadism. Read More
Allergan Inc., of Irvine, Calif., said after consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, its board unanimously determined that the unsolicited exchange offer to acquire all outstanding common shares of Allergan from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., of Laval, Quebec, is grossly inadequate, substantially undervalues the company, creates significant risks and uncertainties for company stockholders and is not in their best interests. Read More
Novo Nordisk A/S, of Bagsvaerd, Denmark, said new data from the phase IIIa SCALE obesity and pre-diabetes trial were presented at the ICE/ENDO 2014 meeting in Chicago. Read More