Longer-term follow-up beyond the 24 weeks may be needed to tease out any differences," he wrote in a research note, adding that "clear demonstration of a survival benefit" could increase its threat to Jakafi...Phase I/II data reported by San Diego-based TargeGen prior to the Sanofi buyout also showed the potential of SAR302503 to reduce white blood cell count in patients with leukocytosis and reduce mutant cells responsible for causing the disease in about two-thirds of the patients treated

AnaptysBio Inc., of San Diego, disclosed a contract award from the U.S...to produce and supply 123I-labeled NAV5001 for Navidea's late-phase clinical trials...Compared to the placebo group, animals treated with WF10 showed a reduction of the degree of symptoms

Prior to the approval of Nymalize, nimodipine was available only in gel capsule form...Sorrento Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, and Igdrasol Inc., of Irvine, Calif., said they acquired exclusive distribution rights from Samyang Biopharmaceuticals, a South Korean firm, to Cynviloq (marketed as Genexol-PM in South Korea) in the 27 countries of the European Union...distribution rights to the drug, a next-generation micellar diblock co-polymeric paclitaxel formulation, from Samyang

In other news, Addex said dipraglurant demonstrated dose-dependent mGlu5 receptor occupancy in a nonhuman primate positron emission tomography study, showing the correlation between the plasma concentration of dipraglurant and occupancy of dipraglurant on mGlu5 receptors in the brain...Institut de Recherches Servier, of Paris, inked a nonexclusive collaboration to use the enhanced spine platform (ESP) technology developed by Afraxis Inc., of San Diego, to discover central nervous system (CNS) drugs

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said partner Eisai Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., will be able to launch obesity drug Belviq (lorcaserin) next month, following completion of a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) review that deemed the drug as a Schedule IV substance...GW Pharmaceuticals plc, of Porton Down, UK, received commercial approval for lead cannabinoid product Sativex in Italy for moderate to severe spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients who have not responded adequately to other

Sagent expects to close the transaction over the next several months...Vical Inc., of San Diego, said preclinical evaluations of its Vaxfectin adjuvant in combination with cell culture-derived seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines from Baxter International Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., were published online in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics...Addition of Vaxfectin to the influenza vaccines substantially increased both antibody and T-cell responses compared with nonadjuvanted vaccines in mice and

rights will be returned to Insite once SWK receives 2.75x the purchase price 4/3/13 MediciNova Inc. (San Diego) Equity distribution agreement N/A (up to $6) MediciNova entered an agreement with Macquarie Capital Inc...The date indicated refers to the BioWorld Today issue in which the news item can be found

Allergan licensed rights to the Darpin technology from Molecular Partners AG for development in AMD and other eye diseases. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 22, 2012.) And Eylea has fared well so far against Roche AG's Lucentis (ranibizumab), due to its lower cost and a label that calls for less frequent dosing, and even to cancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab), a cheaper, off-label alternative

In separate news, Hyperion said it exercised its option to acquire Buphenyl (sodium phenylbutyrate) tablets and powder, an FDA-approved therapy for the chronic management of the most prevalent UCDs, and Ammonul (sodium phenylacetate and sodium benzoate) injection, a hospital-based product used to treat UCD patients in hyperammonemic crisis, from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., of Montreal...According to a March 2012 agreement between Hyperion and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (later

Institut de Recherches Servier, of Paris, inked a nonexclusive collaboration to use the enhanced spine platform (ESP) technology developed by Afraxis Inc., of San Diego, to discover central nervous system (CNS) drugs...Pfenex Inc., of San Diego, awarded Glide Pharma, of Oxford, UK, a subcontract to develop a solid formulation containing the recombinant protective antigen (rPA) from Bacillus anthracis expressed in Pfenex Expression Technology, suitable for delivery with the Glide SDI (solid dose

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...Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, reported preclinical data showing highly targeted liver

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...EpiVax Inc., of Providence, R.I., and BioAtla LLC, of San Diego, formed a collaboration to incorporate EpiVax's immunogenicity screening technology, EpiMatrix, into BioAtla's antibody Express Humanization platform

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

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co., of San Diego, said the FDA granted orphan designation to LJPC-6417 for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP...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

Pfenex Inc., of San Diego, and Agila Biotech Private Ltd., of Bangalore, India, a subsidiary of Strides Arcolab Ltd., entered a joint venture to develop, manufacture and commercialize an initial pipeline of six biosimilar products for the global market

Amylin Pharmaceutical Inc., of San Diego, (later acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. with help from AstraZeneca plc) is the subject of a three-defendant lawsuit along with Merck & Co...Pradax is used to prevent clotting in patients who suffer from atrial fibrillation

In other news, Prana reported that it received a A$2.5 million (US$2.6 million) cash refund under the R&D Tax Incentive Program...The refund was received to support research and clinical development of PBT2 for Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases, as well as for other Prana research activities into Parkinson's disease and other neurological indications

Hovione, of Lisbon, Portugal, entered a co-promotion and collaboration agreement to provide its customers with access to Captisol technology from San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc...SionX is designed to enable high-density expression of recombinant human ion channels on the cell membranes of Tetrahymena thermophile