The companies have agreed to collaborate in China on the development and commercialization of the subcutaneous formulation of BMS' Orencia (abatacept), for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis...Costs related to the reorganization are not expected to have a material effect on the group's finances

Astrazeneca will have first rights to the molecules discovered through the agreement and can choose further development in exchange for royalty payments to Cancer Research Technology...The second agreement allows Cancer Research UK scientists from the Paterson Institute to test a potential drug target against Astrazeneca's compound collection at Alderley Park to see if any could potentially work as a new drug

Xgeva previously gained approval in 2010 to prevent fractures when cancer has spread to the bone. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 22, 2010...Madera has identified small-molecule compounds designed to increase the expression of apolipoprotein E (apoE), which has been shown to mediate beta-amyloid clearance from the brain and prevent its accumulation into the plaques that are characteristic of Alzheimer's

Aphios Corp., of Woburn, Mass., said it entered joint research collaboration and commercialization agreements with Vivacell Biotechnology Espana SL, of Cordoba, Spain, to develop therapeutics for multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system...That is in contrast to some other antibiotics, such as linezolid (Zyvox), which causes drug interactions when taken with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors

The venture, to be named ImmunoGenes-ABS Zrt, will provide funding for production capabilities for the ImmunoGenes programs known as Customized Antibody Solutions and Customized Transgenic Solutions...and certain other territories from Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG for $60 million up front, and additional payments of at least $75 million over the next several years, plus milestone payments prior to FDA approval

Breckenridge Pharmaceutical Inc., of Boca Raton, Fla., entered into a development agreement with Welding GmbH & Co., of Hamburg, Germany, and SK Chemicals, of Seoul, South Korea, to develop and market an undisclosed drug candidate with potential U.S.-branded sales of approximately $500 million...Fluzone Quadrivalent vaccine includes two A strains and two B strains to help protect against influenza disease

commercial rights to Mugard, a marketed product for the management of oral mucositis, from Access Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Dallas...Edge expects to enroll the first patient in a Phase I/II trial in the third quarter...Xenon plans to initially develop XEN701 for patients with chronic kidney disease who are intolerant of or who are poor responders to erythropoietin (Epo) therapy

Affymax will continue to trade under the symbol "AFFY...The submission requests EMA approval to expand the indication for ferumoxytol beyond the current indication for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in adult patients with chronic kidney disease to include all adult patients with IDA who have a history of unsatisfactory oral iron therapy or in whom oral iron cannot be used

In addition to the research collaboration, which includes three cancer targets, Isis and AstraZeneca are developing two antisense drugs, ISIS-ARRx and ISIS-STAT3RX, discovered by Isis and licensed to AstraZeneca for the treatment of cancer. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 12, 2012...The company expects to enter a third agreement (separation agreement) governing other terms of the firms' business relationship

Safyral is approved to prevent pregnancy in women who elect to use an oral contraceptive and to provide a daily dose of folate supplementation

Astellas Pharma US Inc., of Northbrook, Ill., part of Astellas Pharma Inc., entered a distribution agreement with Tecnofarma International Ltd., of Buenos Ares, Argentina, to distribute enzalutamide (Xtandi in the U.S.) in Latin America, excluding Brazil, upon regulatory approvals in the various countries...Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J., said its Johnson & Johnson Innovation arm signed an agreement with the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) to allocate 5,000 square

Treatment was shown to significantly reverse the pulmonary hypertension associated with advanced stages of the disease and restore cardiovascular function...Under the terms, Genor licensed to Biocnd the South Asia, Southeast and Northeast Asia (except Greater China) and Russian rights to GB232, a biosimilar of Humira (adalimumab, AbbVie Inc.) and rest-of-world rights (except Greater China, Japan, the U.S. and Europe) to GB221 , a biosimilar of Herceptin (trastuzumab, Roche AG...The therapy is designed

Under priority review, the FDA aims to complete its review within an eight-month review cycle

AstraZeneca is planning to develop ISIS-ARRx broadly to treat patients under a variety of settings during the course of prostate cancer treatment, including both as a single agent and in combination therapy...Maxygen Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., said its board approved the liquidation and dissolution of the company, subject to shareholder approval, and plans to distribute all available cash to its shareholders after making reasonable provision for known and potential liabilities and other

Shire plc, of Dublin, settled litigation against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., a division of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., of Jerusalem, related to Teva's abbreviated new drug application for a generic version of Shire's Intuniv (guanfacince) for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder...The settlement allows Teva a license to market its own generic versions of Intuniv or authorized versions of Intuniv provided by Shire

and cancellation of all outstanding employee stock options and other agreements granting rights to subscribe for purchase any shares or other securities in Allon...Oramed is required to pay royalties in the rate of 3 percent to 5 percent on sales of products and services derived from the technology developed using this and other OCS grants until the full amount is repaid, plus interest

As of the end of April, 943 employees, or about 77 percent, have had their future employment status clarified, including 300 employees who accepted the offer of transfers to other Merck Serono sites, 43 people who were redeployed through the creation of seven start-up companies and 80 employees that accepted early retirement...Merck Serono decided last year to shutter its Geneva headquarters. (See BioWorld Today, June 20, 2012

In other news, Perrigo received approval for the generic version of Sanctura XR (trospium chloride; Allergan Inc.) to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency and urinary frequency

IBC Generium is granted an exclusive license for other territories, and also has the right to an exclusive license for Russia and CIS states...The company plans to reconstruct an operational plant by overhauling the expansion facility that was under construction...Scynexis said it plans to progress the clinical development while evaluating new partnership opportunities