Sanofi also has a Phase II study under way testing SAR302503 in Jakafi-exposed patients who are either resistant or intolerant to Jakafi.

Despite losing a potentially lucrative FLT3 inhibitor partnership with Astellas Pharma Inc. barely two months ago, Ambit Biosciences Corp. forged ahead with its initial public offering (IPO). The San Diego-based biotech priced about 8.1 million shares at $8 apiece for gross proceeds of about $65 million. The pricing came in lower than Ambit had hoped – it set a $13 to $15 price range earlier this month – but the firm increased the number of shares offered to make up the difference. Proceeds

Shares of Vivus (NASDAQ:VVUS) closed Wednesday at $12.91, down 68 cents.

Shares of the company (NASDAQ:MNOV) gained 58 cents, or 16.5 percent, to close Monday at $4.10.

auth123#Jennifer Boggs

Jennifer Boggs

Shares of Supernus (NASDAQ:SUPN) lost 3 cents Monday to close at $5.12.

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. were down nearly 10 percent Friday following Thursday's after-market release of first-quarter earnings, which included news that the San Diego-based biotech is pulling its European marketing application for obesity drug Belviq (lorcaserin), though the bigger disappointment may be the ongoing delay in Belviq's U.S. launch. The stock (NASDAQ:ARNA), which traded at more than 30 times its normal volume, closed Friday at $7.63, down 77 cents. Arena's drug made

First passed in 2006, PAHPA gives BARDA the ability to fund advanced development of promising MCMs through a milestone contracting process. (See BioWorld Today, March 15, 2013.)

The first clinical programs are expected in 2015.

The funding allowed ReXceptor to enter a formal partnership with C2N Diagnostics, which will assist the company with the initiation and coordination of the clinical trial of an AD program licensed from Case Western's Technology Transfer Office and based on discoveries that bexarotene, a medication sold at Targretin for cutaneous T-cell lymphomas, reversed AD symptoms in mice within 72 hours of a single dose of treatment.

OPKO's shares (NASDAQ:OPKO) fell 10 cents Wednesday to close at $6.96.

By Jennifer Boggs Managing Editor CHICAGO – Getting through an FDA advisory committee is an oft-dreaded rite of passage for developers of novel drug candidates, and stories of disastrous adcoms have a tendency to circulate around the biopharma industry like urban myths

It's almost time to shear it off again, he added.

Have three releases – "good, bad and indifferent" – ready to go, so they can hit the news wires as soon as the adcom concludes.

now we have the responsibility to get the best clinical impact."

Lazard Capital Markets, Cowen and Co., Canaccord Genuity and Roth Capital Partners are acting as underwriters for the offering.

But "at some point, there will be a critical trade-off," Davis said.

now we have the responsibility to get the best clinical impact."