It's the second oncology compound within the Janssen pipeline to receive the designation in the last three months...The company expects to repurchase about $7.5 billion of common stock over the next 12 months, financed through a combination of debt issuance and operating cash flows, with the remainder to be repurchased over time with no time limit

The agreement is subject to customary regulatory and legal approvals, including the approval of at least 66.67 percent of the votes cast by Resverlogix shareholders at a special meeting called for May 28...Resverlogix also will transfer $5 million to $10 million of cash to provide for the initial capitalization of Spinco. (See BioWorld Insight, April 15, 2013, and BioWorld Today, April 30, 2013

to formulate CytoDyn's PRO 140 bulk drug substance through a fill-and-finish process for clinical-ready vials to advance two National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Phase IIb studies...The goal is to validate emerging epigenetic targets for oncology indications and to demonstrate the eligibility of selected target families for drug formalations

The label now carries a boxed warning, advising patients that discontinuing treatment puts them at increased risk of stroke, and the postmarketing experience section was updated to include thrombocytopenia...Like plasma, Kcentra is used in conjunction with the administration of vitamin K to reverse the anticoagulation effect and stop the bleeding...NextBio, of Santa Clara, Calif., said it inked a multiyear collaboration with Paris-based Sanofi SA aimed at using NextBio Clinical to incorporate patient

Celgene Corp., of Summit, N.J., said the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use adopted a positive opinion for Revlimid (lenalidomide) for the treatment of patients with transfusion-dependent anemia due to low or intermediate-1 risk myelodsyplastic syndromes associated with an isolated deletion 5q cytogenetic abnormality when other therapeutic options are insufficient or inadequate...One company, referred to as Royalty Management Co., will focus on managing all development and

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., of San Rafael, Calif., said it submitted a marketing authorization application to the European Medicines Agency for Vimizim (BMN-110, elosulfase alfa), an enzyme replacement therapy for patients with rare lysosomal storage disorder mucopolysaccharidosis Type IVA, also called Morquio A syndrome

It does not bind to blood coagulation factors or other blood proteins...The acquisition had been expected to be completed on Thursday, making Obagi a wholly owned subsidiary of Valeant

flutemetamol to help select patients for a Phase I trial testing Eisai's E2609, a BACE inhibitor for the potential treatment of Alzheimer's disease...Lambrolizumab is Merck's investigational antibody therapy targeting programmed death receptor that is currently being evaluated for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma, and other tumor types...The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine gave approval to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., of Laval, Quebec, for its proposed acquisition of

Addex Therapeutics, of Geneva, said regulatory authorities in the Netherlands gave approval to start in the first half of this year a Phase I study of ADX71441, a GABA-B receptor positive allosteric modulator, for Charcot-Marie-Tooth1A (CMT1A) neuropathy and other disease indications...The company expects to deliver safety, pharmacokinetic and biomarker data by the end of the year...Those and other data were presented at the European Association for the Study of the Liver meeting in Amsterdam, the

Addex Therapeutics SA, of Geneva, reported preclinical data showing that its mGlu5 negative allosteric modulator oral small molecule, dipraglurant, dose-dependently prevented the abnormal excitatory effect observed on brain slices of transgenic primary generalized torsion dystonia 1 (DYT1) mice overexpressing the human mutant TOR1A gene by decreasing the paradoxical neuronal activity induced by the dopamine D2 receptor agonist quinpirole. DYT1 is a common and severe genetic form of dystonia

for the Brisbane, Australia-based company's Diversity Scanning Array (DSA) and Versatile Assembly on Stable Templates (VAST) technologies in a deal worth up to $240 million in milestones, plus other payments...to conduct a review of merger and acquisition opportunities. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 1, 2013...It expects to launch the product in Canada, and a number of Central American, South American and Asian countries in 2014 and 2015

BD Rx Inc., of Franklin Lakes, N.J., a wholly owned subsidiary of Becton, Dickinson and Co., reported that the FDA has approved its metoclopramide injection, the second drug to be offered in the recently launched BD Simplist line of prefilled generic injectables...The drug is in Phase III trials as an adjunctive therapy to levodopa...The two companies will collaborate on additional hit-to-lead and lead optimization for two new molecules, with the work taking place at AMRI's laboratories

Net proceeds will be used to complete a Phase II Squalamine eye drop clinical trial for the wet form of age-related macular degeneration, to further the clinical development of the eye drops for the treatment of other neovascular ophthalmic disorders, to fund development of other pipeline molecules, and for general corporate purposes

Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., entered into a nonexclusive deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of New York, to conduct a Phase II trial of a once-daily oral combination regimen consisting of BMS' NS5A replication complex inhibitor daclatasvir and Merck's NS3/4A protease inhibitor MK-5172 to treat chronic hepatitis C virus infection genotype 1

Celltrion said it plans to submit the study application in the first half of this year, he added, which could allow for the trial to start in the second of this year...To date, Celltrion and Hospira have identified only two products from the alliance – Remsima, a biosimilar version of autoimmune drug Remicade (infliximab, Johnson & Johnson), which won approval as the first biosimilar monoclonal antibody last year in Korea, and a biosimilar version of breast cancer drug Herceptin (trastuzumab, Roche

headquarters in Plainsboro, N.J. The building is part of a $225 million public/private redevelopment project, which used an existing structure and sustainable materials to limit environmental impact

resulting in an estimated 20 percent increase in EMD Serono's employee base from last July to the end of 2014

Addex said it plans to start a Phase IIa study of dipraglurant in a rare dystonia indication in the first half of this year...OPKO also said it is partnering with Pharmsynthez to develop and market several OPKO products for sale in Russia and certain other Eastern European countries...The assets are to be acquired in exchange for the satisfaction and discharge of $15 million outstanding under the secured notes

In separate news, another Galapagos unit, Argenta, inked a deal with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, to apply its respiratory drug discovery services to an undisclosed target within Boehringer's respiratory disease portfolio