Proceeds will be used to fund ongoing and new clinical trials and development and commercialization efforts for pimavanserin, as well as activities for other product candidates and for general corporate purposes...Kite Pharma Inc., of Los Angeles, said it closed a $20 million private placement of shares of its Series A preferred stock...Receptos will use the proceeds to support clinical work in multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease and allergic/immune-mediate disorders. (See BioWorld Today

clinical development plan and financial terms relating to ISIS-TTRRx to reflect an accelerated development plan for that antisense drug...Isis has 28 candidates in preclinical and clinical development across a wide variety of indications, with nine scheduled to report data in the next 12 months

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...In April 2012, Astellas transferred ownership of ASP3291, a melanocortin receptor agonist for ulcerative colitis, to Telsar Pharma Inc., with a $14 million investment by InterWest and Sutter Hill, to begin Phase IIa testing. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 1, 2013.) And in June 2012, Drais partnered with

shored up its balance sheet in a $36 million private offering to advance pipeline work, including planned clinical trials of ARC-520, an RNAi-based drug in chronic HBV infection...The firm also has programs in two big pharma partnerships...Shares of Supernus (NASDAQ:SUPN) lost 3 cents Monday to close at $5.12.

Critics of the firm, too, have pointed to the lack of a big pharma partner to expand Qsymia's reach. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 23, 2012.) Lief said Belviq already has picked up some momentum...The drug was included in a recent diabetes management report from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists

AG014 comprises oral delivery of an anti-TNF antibody with proven clinical efficacy in IBD, resulting in local efficacy and an improved safety profile over systemic drugs...That's the sweet spot for a number of pharma companies...ERYtech Pharma SA, of Lyon, France, has had its prospectus accepted for a proposed initial public offering on the NYSE Euronext exchange in Paris

Coronado plans to use the proceeds to fund R&D, clinical trials and manufacture of supply as well as other corporate purposes...Eyevensys, of Paris, received an equity investment from the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, the venture arm of Ingelheim, Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, and said the big pharma's head of nonclinical R&D, Michel Pairet, was appointed to its board

The study was carried out to explore previous clinical findings with cabozantinib in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients with bone metastases showing a 67 percent rate of bone scan response and other clinical signs of effect...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

Last month, it inked a deal with AbbVie, of Chicago, giving the big pharma firm an option to RPC4046 following the Phase II proof-of-concept trial in EoE...MEI Pharma Inc., of San Diego, priced a public offering of about 2 million shares of common stock at $7.50 apiece, a 9.5 percent discount to Thursday's closing price...Funds will be used to progress the clinical development program for lead candidate, Pracinostat, its oral histone deacetylase inhibitor for advanced hematologic malignancies, and for

The financing included both new and existing institutional investors, including Essex Woodlands, NovaQuest Pharma Opportunities Fund, Delphi Ventures, Vivo Ventures, Technology Partners, Shepherd Ventures, Bio*One Capital, Pac-Link Ventures and Palo Alto Fund...The latest round is expected to support ongoing clinical development of lead candidate, LiRIS (lidocaine releasing intravesical system), in development for patients with interstitial cystitis.

A big pharma partner could ease some of the pressure on Vivus...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

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.

Dezima Pharma BV, of Naarden, the Netherlands, said it raised €14.2 million (US$18.6 million) for the clinical development of its cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor, DEZ-001 (previously TA-8995), and to develop additional earlier-stage dyslipidemia assets...It will use the proceeds to advance its opthalmic programs through clinical proof of concept

Competitors in atopic dermatitis include Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., Oculus Innovtive Sciences and LEO Pharma A/S...Atopic dermatitis was also part of a recent set of collaborations between LEO Pharma A/S and institutions in Australia, France, Germany and the U.S., including the International Institute of Dermatology and Allergy with Charité University of Medicine in Berlin...The company is planning to begin clinical studies in the first half of 2014

As this money is dispensed through its clinical development programs, the company expects to receive £12 million in government R&D tax credits, bringing the total pot to £60 million...Pharma doesn't want more questions than answers, so you can't do development on a shoestring or cut corners...The total amount raised in the private placement is $7.9 million.

Tivozanib – an oral, once-daily, VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, partnered by AVEO with Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo – turned up pleasing results in the Phase III trial that compared progression-free survival rates with Nexavar (sorafenib, Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.) in kidney cancer, but overall survival (OS) rates caused some eyebrows to rise...Clinical Cancer Research included a paper that suggested the compound, ENMD-2076, acts potently against breast cancer cell lines that lack

Aileron's pharma investors, including Roche, hold traditional venture stakes in the company, with no rights of first look or first refusal, according to Yanchik...While continuing to converse with big pharma, Aileron also is exploring potential relationships with mid-cap and large biotechs, which are "becoming more significant players in the collaboration field," Yanchik said...Together, the three collaborated in the seminal discovery of the first biologically active stapled peptide and translation

that included a $30 million equity investment and a $50 million synthetic royalty agreement linked to future sales of Meningitec, a vaccine Nuron acquired earlier this month from Pfizer Inc., and its HibTiter vaccine (Haemophilus b conjugate vaccine [diphtheria CRM197 protein conjugate]), in-licensed from Wyeth LLC and subsequently out-licensed in January to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp., of Osaka, Japan. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 13, 2012.) In a second biotech deal on the same day, HC Royalty