The transaction is expected to close in early 2013...The single-tablet, combination regimen is designed to provide convenience for diabetes patients...marketing rights to canagliflozin except for parts of Asia

Shares of Somaxon (NASDAQ:SOMX) soared on the buyout news, gaining 80.3 percent, or $1.18, to close Tuesday at $2.65. (See BioWorld Today, March 19, 2010, July 16, 2010, Aug. 26, 2010, and June 9, 2011...to identify and nominate highly differentiated backup and follow-on IAP inhibitors...Ltd., pursuant to the existing license, commercialization and supply agreement between Sucampo Pharma Ltd., SPI's subsidiary, and Abbott

Eisai has a pending new drug application for Aciphex delayed-release sprinkle capsules 5 mg and 10 mg for the proposed indication of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), maintenance of healing of GERD and improvement of symptoms of GERD in children, ages 1 to 11

The decision to delist stemmed from the firm's inability to maintain the continuous listing requirements...Payments to Isis could total $200 million, including license fees and regulatory milestones per program, plus additional double-digit royalties...Geron agreed to assign to TA Sciences Inc., of New York, those patents previously licensed to Asia Biotech, including intellectual property relating to telomerase activation technology

GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center entered a partnership to develop therapeutics to treat an inherited form of muscular dystrophy...The goal of the agreement is to develop a small-molecule-based medicine to potentially reverse facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy by inhibiting the activity of a protein that is incorrectly expressed by the DUX4 gene in people with the disease

The company plans to direct its cash and other resources primarily to enable the achievement of important near-term milestones for its BCX4161 HAE, BCX4430 broad-spectrum antiviral and BCX5191 hepatitis C programs

Janssen Biotech Inc., of Horsham, Pa., and Janssen Biologics B.V., of Leiden, Netherlands, both part of Johnson & Johnson, submitted a supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) to the FDA and a Type II Variation to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) requesting approval of Stelara (ustekinumab) to treat adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis...The FDA gave guidance and permission to Lipocine Inc., of Salt Lake City, for its Phase III study of oral testosterone replacement therapy

The product is designed to treat chronic diabetic macular edema considered insufficiently responsive to available therapies...Ltd., of Tokyo, to develop bispecific antibodies based on Genmab's DuoBody platform

Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, said the FDA accepted for review its new drug application for tacrolimus extended-release capsules for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in adult kidney transplant recipients and adult male liver transplant recipients. The PDUFA data will be July 21, 2013. AstraZeneca plc, of London, said it agreed with the FDA on label changes for Faslodex (fulvestrant) injection, updating the label with results and a Kaplan-Meier plot of the final overall survival (OS

In other news, Bayer said its BAY 86-6150 is being investigated in a Phase II/III study, dubbed TRUST (TReatment with Unique recombinant rFVIIa STudy), and the recruitment of the first cohort is now complete...In other news, Viralytics is offering shareholders up to $15,000 worth of shares at 30 cents each in a new underwritten share purchase plan to fund the company's intravenous cancer trial and the continued clinical research and development of Cavatak, its lead oncolytic virus candidate

To date, none of the gene targets associated with the obese phenotype has provided a viable drug therapy...The technology is designed to identify all antibodies of a specific target across large populations of lymphocytes...Sernova Corp., of London, Ontario, published a method to evaluate insulin-producing donor islets prior to transplant as a predictor of which transplants are most likely to reverse diabetes in Cell Transplantation

Its expenses related to the terminations will be $280,000 in the fourth quarter...Spherix Consulting will continue to be headed by Claire Kruger, who resigned as CEO and director, as a division of ChromaDex, and Robert A. Lodder has taken over as principal executive officer of Spherix Inc., and a number of board members have resigned...Synthetic Biologics said it intends to develop an oral beta-lactamase enzyme product candidate, SYN-004, which is designed to be co-administered with certain beta

Ipsen SA, of Paris, and Galderma Pharma SA, of Lausanne, Switzerland, said they extended their collaboration for the promotion and distribution of Dysport, Ipsen's botulinum toxin Type A in aesthetic indications, renewing the deal in Brazil and Argentina and adding Australia where Galderma has the exclusive promotion and distribution rights for Dysport in the glabellar lines indication. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Eisai Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., said the FDA accepted for priority review Eisai's NDA for AcipHex Delayed-Release Sprinkle Capsules 5mg and 10mg for the proposed indication of healing of gastroesophageal reflux Disease (GERD), maintenance of healing of GERD and improvement of symptoms of GERD in children 1 to 11 years of age

After the dividend distribution, expected to be paid Jan. 1, 2013, AbbVie will be an independent, publicly traded company, and Abbott will retain no ownership interest...AbbVie common stock is expected to begin trading Jan. 2, 2013, on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "ABBV...The recall does not affect or related to the 80-mg dosage strength of the cholesterol-lowering drug

Forest Laboratories Inc., of New York, and Gedeon Richter plc, of Budapest, Hungary, said Forest submitted a new drug application for cariprazine, a dopamine D3/D2 receptor partial agonist with preferential binding to D3 receptors, for use in schizophrenia and bipolar mania...Upon the close of the transaction, Pfizer holds exclusive North American commercialization rights to Quillivant XR (methylphenidate hydrochloride) for extended-release oral suspension, a once-daily liquid medication for ADHD

Abbott, of Abbott Park, Ill., said the European Commission approved Humira (adalimumab) for the treatment of pediatric patients, ages 6 to 17, with severe active Crohn's disease who failed, are intolerant to or have contraindications to conventional therapy

The product is licensed from Cipher Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, and was formulated in such a way that it does not need to be given with a high-fat meal, as is usually the case with isotretinoin

The company said it would have needed to raise considerable additional capital in order to return to compliance with the New York Stock Exchange listing requirements...The moves follow an increase to authorized common stock of the company in October 2012 and changes to the terms of the company's Series A preferred shares the previous August