to equity, and making nondisruptive arrangements for payment to trade creditors (5/17...to assist in the evaluation of financial alternatives and fundraising options It also retained Beal Advisors LLC to assist in the partnership, license or sale of cardiovascular drug Aggrastat

IntelGenx also made an agreement with Cynapsus to receive full control and interest in the drug in exchange for debt forgiveness and royalty payments (11/30) Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ISIS) Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.* (Canada) Deal to discover and develop antisense drugs to treat the common disease anemia of inflammation Isis will get an undisclosed up-front payment in the form of a convertible promissory note from Xenon to discover and develop antisense drugs to the targets hemojuvelin

and Canada (10/8) Celtic Therapeutics Holdings LP* (U.S. Virgin Islands) Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.* Option agreement relating to Resolvyx's RX-10045 for dry-eye syndrome and other ophthalmic conditions Celtic has an exclusive option to acquire and license rights to RX-10045 in all eye indications (10/27) Cypress Bioscience Inc. (CYPB) Exagen Diagnostics Inc.* Asset purchase deal for Exagen to acquire Cypress' diagnostic business for up to $8M in up-front and milestone

But the other goal is the same as traditional VCs: to make money...On the other hand, investments so far in Bi3 haven't necessarily reflected Biogen's own internal efforts

provided up to $14.7M to ChemGenex for a note convertible at 49 cents per share (10/25) Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CYCC) Private placement of stock and warrants 8.3U $22...1S and a five-year note $5.3 Ore raised $5.1M through the sale of $1.1M in shares at 35 cents each and a five-year note for $4.2M to Steel Partners Ltd. (10/26) Oxygen Biotherapeutics Inc. (OXBT) Placement of senior unsecured promissory notes N/A $5 Oxygen entered a note purchase agreement with JP

handed back rights to a midstage antibody program licensed from AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc. — citing a shift in priorities in the wake of last year's mega-merger with Schering-Plough Corp. — the news had an unusual effect on the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm's stock...And, as last year's mega mergers continue to shake out and other big pharma firms focus efforts on building up near-term pipelines ahead of the patent cliff, there's little doubt the industry will see more projects handed back to biotechs

to discover and develop small-molecule GPR119 agonists for Type II diabetes, among other indications...While the drugs have held up well against other diabetes staples like dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor Januvia (sitagliptin, Merck & Co. Inc.), analysts are eager to handicap how they compare to each other...analyst Ian Somaiya wrote in a research note that taspoglutide does not appear to stack up well against Bydureon

In addition to giving investors more confidence, it could pave the way to increased disclosure around other types of FDA communications, including letters and meeting minutes, he said...While Allan was quick to note that he's never seen a CR letter, he said the FDA always asks companies questions about their investigational new drug application filings...According to Ross, "VCs want, on the whole, more transparency from the FDA, and they're willing to trade off a little proprietary secrecy to get it

to acquire about 61% of Medistem Medistem's technologies include treatments for autism, heart failure, diabetes, erectile dysfunction and multiple sclerosis (4/14) Galapagos NV (Belgium; BR:GLPG) CHDI Foundation Inc.*Five-year collaboration focused on discovering novel drugs for Huntington's disease Galapagos' service division BioFocus will perform the research and is eligible to receive $41M in research fees (4/30) GenOway SA (France; Paris: Algen) Unnamed bio-pharmaceutical

other investors were Alexandria Real Estate Equities, ARCH Venture Partners, OVP Venture Partners and WRF Capital Nautilus Neurosciences Inc.Bridgewater, N.J...4/20 $9.8 Virxsys raised $9.8M of a planned $45M venture round Xenome Ltd.Brisbane, Australia 4/23 A$10($9.28) Xenome completed a convertible note financing for $9.28M from funds associated with Queensland BioCapital Fund and GBS Venture Partners Notes:Currency conversions are based on exchange rates at the time of the deal

all told, the company raised $10.4M (4/19) Transdel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTC BB: TDLP) Private debt financing N/A $1 Transdel issued a two-year senior convertible promissory note with an annual interest rate of 7.5% to an existing shareholder (4/9) Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE:VRX) Private placement of senior unsecured notes N/A $35 Valeant priced its private placement of $400M of 7.625% senior unsecured notes due 2020, with $365M going to repurchase 3% convertible

But the Benlysta news on Tuesday dropped the stock as much as 12 percent in early trading before the shares climbed back up to close at $29.61, a loss of about 6 percent for the day...In addition to regulatory issues, Zalbin faces competition in the extended-release interferon space...Benlysta: The Big Picture Benlysta is the superstar of HGSI's pipeline, so investors are naturally jittery about bad news related to it

According to research published in Nature Biotechnology, PTE deadline miscalculations are not unique...Medicines' only other marketed drug, acute hypertension drug Cleviprex (clevidipine butyrate), may one day prove significant but has thus far been a slow starter, with just $3 million in sales last year...Wedbush PacGrow LifeSciences analyst Duane Nash wrote in a research note that the judge had criticized the PTO for "deferring to the FDA on several key issues," but the new decision was made

Under Pressure Then, last Tuesday, analyst Elliot Favus circulated a terse research note on Dendreon that said only the following: "We have been in contact with physicians who have been invited by the FDA to participate in an upcoming FDA Advisory Committee Panel Meeting to discuss Provenge...The stock recovered, although it fell again a week later on earnings news. (See BioWorld Insight, Feb. 15, 2010.) But drama aside, there could be other factors at play - like the fact that analysts face

to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Forest will make an up-front payment of $75M and will pay milestone payments and sales- based royalty payments (12/17) Alopexx Pharmaceuticals LLC* Sanofi Aventis Group (France) Collaboration agreement and option for a license on a first-in-class human monoclonal antibody targeted against methicillin-resistant S...Collaboration to research and develop new therapeutics for Asian cancers Crown will receive an undisclosed up-front payment

to purchase an aggregate of 12.5M shares (1/5) BioInvent International AB (Sweden; SSE:BINV) Private placement of common stock 5.4S SEK150 ($21) BioInvent raised $21M issuing 5.4M new shares subscribed by DnB NOR Asset Management and B&E Participation AB (1/15) Cell Therapeutics Inc. (CTIC) Private placement of stock and warrants 24.7S and W for 8.6S $30 Cell Therapeutics raised $30M through the sale of preferred stock convertible into 24.7M shares and the sale of warrants to buy up to 8

that's the work of a larger Phase III effort, to be funded (Poniard hopes) by the big-pharma player who inks a deal based on picoplatin's promise in CRC as well as other cancers...The difference between the two groups, 3.6 percent, wasn't quite up to the 5 percent goal in the FDA guidelines, but lorcaserin fulfilled the other half of the agency's edict, which wants the proportion of patients who lose 5 percent of their weight on drug to be roughly double that on placebo...The news in that department

and partner Sanofi-Aventis Group decided to quit their Phase III trial with aflibercept (VEGF Trap) for first-line metastatic pancreatic cancer put new focus on the grim, quick-spreading tumor type, much in the news as a result of actor Patrick Swayze's death last week...15 research note, declaring the "tide is about to turn" for the company...With Abraxane in pancreatic cancer, the best news for Abraxis and patients - as well as Louisville, Colo.-based GlobeImmune, with GI-4000 - is the chance to

That makes the drug attractive not only to primary care doctors but to cardiologists and other specialists...Analyst Michael King, with Merriman Curhan Ford, wrote in a research note that Qnexa has the potential to become not only the gold-standard obesity medicine, but even replace the odious but often-resorted-to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure