Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, and Drais Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., will repeat for the third time a spinout maneuver that has been successful with two other programs in the past...Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, set the price range for its proposed initial public offering (IPO), aiming to sell 6.9 million shares priced between $13 and $16 each

Coronado plans to use the proceeds to fund R&D, clinical trials and manufacture of supply as well as other corporate purposes...OxiGene Inc., of South San Francisco, entered agreements with institutional investors for a private placement of $5 million of zero coupon convertible preferred stock, convertible into approximately 1.38 million shares of common stock at a price of $3.63 apiece, and two series of warrants that may be exercised for up to approximately 2.76 million additional shares of

Exelixis Inc., of South San Francisco, presented additional information about the mechanism of action of cabozantinib with respect to activity against prostate cancer tumors metastasized to bone...MEI Pharma Inc., of San Diego, presented data showing the ability of its mitochondrial inhibitor drug candidate, ME-344, to decrease tumor burden and delay recurrence in a preclinical in vivo model of recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer

A big pharma partner could ease some of the pressure on Vivus...Medgenics Inc., of San Francisco, said underwriters exercised an option to purchase stock in its recent public offering...The funds will be used to advance Theraclone's clinical programs and support its I-STAR technology platform.

Another $406 million could come in the form of clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, and Enanta would be eligible for tiered, double-digit royalties and a U.S...and London-based GW Pharma plc, which is seeking a Nasdaq listing and a capital raise. (See BioWorld Today, March 11, 2013, March 12, 2013, and March 20, 2013.) In other financings news...Net proceeds are expected to support clinical trial costs and acquisition of manufacturing equipment, leasehold improvements and general corporate

Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., said researchers from the Clinical Trial Service Unit at Oxford University presented results from the HPS2-THRIVE (Heart Protection Study 2-Treatment of HDL to Reduce the Incidence of Vascular Events) study of Tredaptive (extended-release niacin/laropiprant) during the late-breaking clinical trial session at the American College of Cardiology 62nd Annual Scientific Session in San Francisco...Findings were presented during the late-breaking clinical trial session

The company plans to use proceeds from the offering to complete clinical development of Ravicti in hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and to fund post-approval studies in UCD...Hyperion gained rights to Ravicti from Ucyclyd Pharma Inc., a subsidiary of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp...at the same unit price.

Acceleron Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it started a Phase II study testing dalantercept (ACE-041), an angiogenesis inhibitor designed to target the activin receptor-like kinase pathway, in combination with Inlyta (axitinib, Pfizer Inc.), a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma...Nektar Therapeutics Inc., of San Francisco, said it started a Phase II study of etirinotecan pegol in patients with metastatic and

Data were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco

Clinical Cancer Research included a paper that suggested the compound, ENMD-2076, acts potently against breast cancer cell lines that lack expression of the estrogen and progesterone receptors, while also lacking HER2 amplification, i.e., TNBC...KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, set the terms on its previously disclosed initial public offering

Cerulean Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said CRLX101 achieved the predefined gating criterion for advancement into the second stage of a Phase II trial in advanced ovarian cancer...That allows Lorus to initiate a biomarker clinical investigation to further explore the effects of the drug at relevant doses determined in the trial...The complete clinical study report for the interim analysis would be supplied to the FDA during the review within 60 days of the resubmission

Cerulean Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it dosed the first patient in a Phase II study of lead candidate CRLX101 in advanced gastric cancer...Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, and Bayer AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, reported that a Phase III trial of Nexavar (sorafenib) in locally advanced or metastatic radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement of progression-free survival

CellAct Pharma GmbH, of Dortmund, Germany, said its topoisomerase inhibitor CAP7...OxiGene Inc., of South San Francisco, said data from a Phase II trial of Zybrestat (fosbretabulin) in patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), which has features similar to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology

The FDA granted Xtandi (enzalutamide, Astellas Pharma Inc. and Medivation Inc.) approval in September for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients who have previously received docetaxel. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 4, 2012.) Dendreon said it is looking for a European marketing partner, rather than just a manufacturing partner...Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, reported net sales of $18.6 million for newly launched cancer drug Kyprolis (carfilzomib), while sales of

Cytokinetics Inc., of South San Francisco, said it opened its Phase IIb BENEFIT-ALS (Blinded Evaluation of Neuromuscular Effects and Functional Improvement with Tirasemtiv in ALS) testing tirasemtiv, formerly CK-2017357, in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS...TransTech Pharma Inc., of High Point, N.C., said data from a 399-patient study testing TTP488, a small-molecule drug targeting the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts, demonstrated evidence of slowing cognitive decline

The clinical relevance of neratinib as a 'pan-HER' family inhibitor and it being irreversible is yet to be proven," the paper said...Funds will be used to support the clinical development of cancer drugs aldoxorubicin and tamibarotene and for general corporate purposes, which could include working capital, capital expenditures, R&D and commercial activities.

AlphaCore Pharma Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., said its Phase I trial met the primary endpoint by demonstrating the safety and tolerability of ACP-501 (recombinant human LCAT...The positive clinical effects of the twice-daily dose of the drug relative to placebo were observed in a variety of standard psoriasis assessment parameters, with the responses accumulating over the 24 weeks...Seattle Genetics Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said it will receive undisclosed milestone payments under its antibody-drug

Horizon Pharma Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., priced an underwritten public offering of 21.42 million units, with each unit consisting of one share of its common stock and a warrant to purchase a half share of its common stock...Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, executed two previously disclosed financings...Royalty Pharma has invested $25 million under its royalty arrangement with Sunesis, and, in a separate transaction, a syndicate of lenders funded the second tranche of $15 million

Medivation Inc., of San Francisco, and Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, published Phase III results from the AFFIRM trial of enzalutamide (MDV3100) in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients previously treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy in the New England Journal of Medicine