Cancer Research UK licensed data from its Phase II study of rucaparib (AG014699) in breast and ovarian cancer patients with known BRCA 1 or 2 mutations to Clovis Oncology Inc., of Boulder, Colo., in return for undisclosed licensing fees...In other news, closed its initial public offering (IPO) of 3.5 million American depository shares (ADSs) at $8.90 per share...PM01183 is designed to bind covalently to the minor groove of DNA to induce a specific degradation in tumor cells of RNA polymerase II

AB103, a rationally designed short peptide designed to modulate the host's inflammatory response through binding to the CD28 dimmer interface, has orphan and fast-track status in the U.S...The company expects to see results from by late summer...The firms will aim to offer pharma and biotech companies a set of fully integrated nuclear receptor drug discovery capabilities by combining expertise in structural biology, medicinal chemistry, biology, DMPK, pharmacology and safety

to explore strategic options for Stedivaze, a highly selective adenosine A2A agonist in development as a pharmacological stress agent for use in myocardial perfusion imaging...The company plans to use the funding to advance its vaccine candidate, designed to block transmission against malaria...The company's technology fuses candidate vaccine antigens from malaria to self-assembling proteins from the ciliated protozoan, Tetrahymena, to create nanometer-sized particles called G-Somes that have the

Cancer Research Technology, the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK, and the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said they were collaborating with Janssen Biotech Inc., a unit of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson, to discover a potential new multiple myeloma drug

Oxford Gene Technology, of Oxford, UK, was granted a license by the Institute of Cancer Research, London, to further develop and commercialize a new panel of diagnostic and prognostic microRNA biomarkers for prostate cancer...The studies are designed to allow PCT to evaluate the applicability of SistemQC technology in stem cell characterization employing Sistemic's miRNA profiling system and analytical approaches to product miRNA panels

Oxford Gene Technology, of Oxford, UK, was granted a license by the Institute of Cancer Research, London, to further develop and commercialize a new panel of diagnostic and prognostic microRNA biomarkers for prostate cancer...That news "shocked the Street," according to Roth Capital Partners analyst Joseph Pantginis...Investors took the news hard, sending shares of Spectrum (NASDAQ:SPPI) falling $4.64, or 37.3 percent, to close Wednesday at $7.79

Clinigen Group plc, of Burton-on-Trent, UK, and Theravance Inc., of South San Francisco, entered an exclusive commercialization agreement in the European Union and certain other countries located in Europe for Vibativ (telavancin) in nosocomial pneumonia, including ventilator-associated pneumonia, known or suspected to be caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, when other alternatives are not suitable...In other news, Elan said its Tysabri (natalizumab) restructuring transaction is

Cancer Research Technology (CRT), of London, the commercialization company of Cancer Research UK, and partner AstraZeneca plc, also of London, extended their multiproject cancer metabolism alliance for another two years

Celgene expects Revlimid to be available to patients late in the second quarter of 2013...Teva opted to make a one-time payment of $880,000 in lieu of future payments

Diamyd Medical AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said it's planning to start a new 60-patient study in February with diabetes vaccine Diamyd, testing it in combination with other drugs – relatively high doses of vitamin D and anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen – to potentiate the effect of the vaccine's ability to help the body control blood sugar levels in newly diagnosed Type I diabetics

BioCryst's chimpanzee study had been designed to determine if nontoxic doses of BCX5191 would have a potent antiviral effect...Lee's will have an option to negotiate for commercial rights in China...The European Medicines Agency assigned orphan drug status to Prosensa's two preclinical compounds PRO052 and PRO055, and the FDA granted orphan drug status to the company's four compounds, PRO045, PRO052, PRO053 and PRO055

Cancer Research UK's Drug Development Office in London and partner AstraZeneca plc, of London, opened a three-armed study testing AZD0424 in a Phase I trial expected to recruit up to 30 patients, initially across all solid tumor types...In other news, Boehringer Ingelheim said it enrolled the first patients in its Phase III interferon-free (IFN-free) program, HCVerso, testing its IFN-free polymodal regimen combining faldaprevir (BI 201335), a next-wave once-daily protease inhibitor, and BI 207127

The companies expect to start a Phase I trial in the first half of this year...to-BBB Technologies BV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, entered a collaboration with the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) in Cambridge, Mass., to investigate potential treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

to Firdapse, a drug in development for Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome BioMarin agreed to invest $5M in Catalyst under a promissory note and note purchase agreement 11/1/12 Colby Pharmaceutical Co. (San Jose, Calif.) MannKind Corp. (Valencia, Calif.) $140 Deal for disease-specific antigen compounds and intra-lymph node injection (INLI) technologies from its MKC1106 cancer vaccine program Colby is paying up to $140M in up-front and milestone payments to MannKind, which also will receive tiered

The two companies will also freely share the data and tools from the project with other organizations involved in cancer research...Amgen licensed rights to two other cancer targets in 2009 and has two compounds in clinical testing under those licenses

Distribution of Prothena ordinary shares in the demerger is conditioned upon, among other conditions to the demerger, a registration statement filed with the SEC, having been declared effective by the SEC and the affirmative vote of the Elan shareholders...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

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

Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, said it presented new data to support the development of its oncology product, IL-17E, at the American Association for Cancer Research Tumor Immunology Conference in Miami...To date, none of the gene targets associated with the obese phenotype has provided a viable drug therapy

Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, partnered with Cancer Research UK's Drug Development Office (DDO) and the charity's commercial arm, Cancer Research Technology, to move a cancer treatment into clinical testing...Spectrum has continued to increase the number of qualified third-party manufacturing sites approved for Fusilev production since the product was approved in 2011 for use in combination chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil in the palliative treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer...The