LONDON – Shares in Erytech Pharma SA began trading in Paris last week following an initial public offering (IPO) that exceeded the €15 million (US$19.5 million) target, raising €16.7 million. The Lyon, France-based company added a further €11 million, mostly through the conversion of bonds, providing sufficient funding to take the lead program Graspa through to approval in Europe and to start a U.S. Phase Ib trial of the product in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). "I'm very

LONDON – Creabilis SA reported positive Phase IIb results for its topical TrkA kinase inhibitor CT327 in the relief of chronic pruritus (itch) caused by psoriasis, paving the way for a Phase III study designed to gain approval for treating itch in any dermatological disease. "We are delighted by the outcome," said Eliot Forster, CEO. "In addition to some benefits in terms of the underlying disease, CT327 showed a highly significant impact on itch, which in psoriasis and other dermatological

LONDON – There may be a completely new way to block the estrogen receptor on breast cancer cells, which normally thrive on estrogen. Researchers working in the Netherlands have shown that blocking the receptor at that point reduces the growth rate of breast tumor cells. What is more, they have already found a small molecule that blocks the receptor, and they have crystallized the binding pocket, which should make it possible to design or find other small molecules that can be used as drugs to

Cardio3 BioSciences (C3BS) closed a €19 million (US$25 million) investment round to fund an ongoing European Phase III trial of its stem cell therapy for ischemic heart failure, C-Cure. Just €7 million of the total represents new money, however. The remainder comprises an equity conversion of existing loans. The new cash comes from the company's existing investors. C3BS, of Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, is developing a therapy that originated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. C-Cure

Cosmo Pharmaceuticals SpA landed a hefty chunk of upside, that all-too-elusive commodity, by grossing $89.2 million from a sale of Santarus Inc. stock. The transaction will enable the already-profitable company to begin paying dividends to its shareholders. The Lainate, Italy-based drug delivery specialist disposed of 4.25 million shares, priced at $18.25 per share, Friday. On Monday, Jefferies LLC, which underwrote the offering, exercised its option to purchase an additional 637,500 Santarus

DUBLIN, Ireland – Elan Corp. plc is putting down a $1 billion bet that the respiratory franchise shared by Theravance Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline plc will pay generous dividends over the next decade. Elan is acquiring a 21 percent stake in Theravance's future royalty streams from four drugs that are partnered with London-based GSK. One of them, Breo (fluticasone furoate [FF] and vilanterol inhalation powder), which is administered using the Ellipta inhaler, has just gained FDA approval as a daily

Osaka, Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is gaining access to several key vaccine candidates targeted against major infectious diseases in the developing world such as dengue and hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), through its acquisition of Inviragen Inc., of Fort Collins, Colo. Takeda will pay $35 million up front and up to $215 million contingent on various clinical and commercial milestones. The transaction will be conducted through Takeda's wholly owned subsidiary Takeda America

: LONDON – Galapagos NV has raised €53.9 million (US$70.7 million) in an oversubscribed placing in which it has tapped into the strong appetite U.S. investors currently have for biotechnology. This is Galapagos' fourth private placing since it went public in May 2005. "It definitely was easier than previous rounds: there was a minimal discount and we have attracted premier investment groups, in particular in the U.S.," said Onno von de Stolpe, CEO. "It's been a fantastic success," he told

LONDON – Symphogen A/S has taken in a further €41 million (US$54.1 million) as an extension to an earlier €100 million round agreed in 2011, bringing the total raised to $185 million. "For a private biotech, it's a pleasure to have more than €100 million," said Kirsten Drejer, CEO. The extra funding will be used "to extend the runway, not to add more programs," she told BioWorld International. The spur for raising more money was the validation of Symphogen's antibody mixtures technology in a

LONDON – The future development of a new class of antidepressants has edged closer, with the discovery of a molecular pathway that is fundamental to the development of depression. In depression, high levels of stress hormones such as glucocorticoids are linked to a reduced rate by which new brain cells develop – a process called neurogenesis. Researchers based at the Institute of Psychiatry in London have identified a molecule that, when blocked, halts the decrease in neurogenesis that

GlaxoSmithKline plc's initiative on data transparency took a decisive step forward Tuesday as the company switched on the website that will act as the point of access to its vast repositories of clinical data and named the independent review panel who will control that access. Accredited researchers will be able to access the data (via https://clinicalstudydata.gsk.com/) only after gaining approval for their research proposals from the four-person panel. They also would have to commit to

LONDON – Redx Pharma Ltd. has unveiled a shift in strategy away from a sole focus on internally generated compounds, with the in-licensing of an early stage oncology program from Canadian biotech Pharmascience Inc. At the same time Redx announced it has put in place funding for a diversification into anti-infectives and is opening a new unit on the site of AstraZeneca plc's largest R&D facility at Alderley Park, Cheshire, UK. That will fill some of the vacuum that is about to be generated by

Less than a year after licensing constipation drug elobixibat from Swedish biotech Albireo AB, Ferring Pharmaceuticals SA initiated enrollment in two Phase III trials of the investigational compound in chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC). The randomized, double-blind studies, Echo 1 and Echo 2, will be conducted at nearly 200 sites worldwide and will enroll approximately 1,700 patients, aiming to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of repeated daily doses of elobixibat against placebo over a

SAN FRANCISCO – When AiCuris GmbH, of Wuppertal, Germany, analyzed the market for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) therapies, it found a market with high medical need, neglected by big pharma, featuring a variety of disease manifestations. The market had also fallen under the radar of payers, all resulting in low competition, with the potential for high prices and low marketing and sales costs, according to Helga Rubsamen-Schaeff, AiCuris CEO. In her presentation for a panel featuring the nominees

Addex Therapeutics SA, of Geneva, disclosed positive preclinical data for its GABAB receptor-positive allosteric modulator in a rodent model of chronic alcohol dependence. The Addex alcoholism candidate, ADX71441, demonstrated robust and dose-dependent suppression of alcohol intake in animals lasting 24 hours. ADX71441 is an oral small molecule, with potential for once-daily dosing. In other news, Addex said dipraglurant demonstrated dose-dependent mGlu5 receptor occupancy in a nonhuman primate

LONDON – A more detailed understanding of the workings of the membrane-bound pump that many bacteria use to eject antibiotics will, researchers hope, lead to ways of making bacteria once again susceptible to antibiotics that currently fail to kill them. The work should make it possible to solve the structure of the pump and, eventually, find ways to either block the pump's function, or to prevent the pump's being assembled. Adrian Walmsley, professor of molecular microbiology at the University

LONDON – A 2.5-year investigation into the low level of uptake of biosimilars in Europe has concluded that – in the absence of automatic substitution – a hearts-and-minds education campaign covering physicians, payers and patients is the only lever that can be pulled at a pan-European level to drive the growth of the market. Among its findings, the Project Group on Market Access and Uptake of Biosimilars pinpointed a lack of understanding of biosimilars as a significant barrier to access. To

DUBLIN, Ireland – Opsona Therapeutics Ltd. raised €33 million (US$43.2 million) in a Series C funding round to take forward a first-in-class Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2) inhibitor, OPN-305, into a Phase II trial for preventing delayed graft function (DGF) in high-risk kidney transplant patients. The investment represents a shot in the arm for TLR biology, a field that has, so far, failed to deliver on its considerable promise. Despite intense interest in various TLR targets – there are 10 in

Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) Ltd. entered a target validation deal with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH that will offer near-term revenues, with the added prospect of long-term development milestones and product royalties. The shape of the deal is markedly different from the headline-grabbing pact involving five antibody and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs it entered last year with Menarini Group, of Florence, Italy. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 30, 2012.) That deal is focused on what for OBT