It is the first clinical trial being conducted under Perseid's collaboration with Astellas, which is sponsoring the trial...Verona Pharma plc, of London, applied to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for permission to carry out a clinical trial of its investigational therapy, RPL554, for asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD

Net proceeds are about $46.5 million and will support R&D efforts, including clinical trials, as well as general corporate purposes. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 21, 2011...At the midpoint range, the specialty pharma firm could bring in about $60 million

The data were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium in San Francisco...Data were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco...in Japan, and Seoul, South Korea-based Kuhnil Pharma Co

Funds will be used for general corporate purposes, including clinical trials and in-licensing or acquisition activities...The Basel, Switzerland-based pharma is taking the lead on development of that program and recently reported promising 12-week data from the Phase IIb PROPEL study testing RG7128 in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin...Prior to the offering, it reported about 72.5 million shares outstanding.

The drug will be dosed in combination with Tarceba (erlotinib, Astellas Pharma and Roche AG) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a primary endpoint of overall survival and secondary endpoints including overall survival in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor wild type and progression-free survival...The two companies share equally the cost of Phase II and Phase III clinical studies...ArQule's clinical pipeline additionally includes ARQ 621

On its own, Nektar has several early clinical and preclinical programs, including NKTR0181, a mu-opioid analgesic candidate expected to begin clinical testing this year...Net proceeds are expected to support general corporate purposes, including clinical trials, in-licensing or M&A activities

Through the ACO model, a clinical care team will receive a bundle payment from Medicare for all a patient's services...If granted, that could be a boon to the biotech and pharma industries, which were buoyed by the 2004 repatriation holiday, and could herald a wave of M&A activity in the sector...His team believes passage is more likely in the second half of 2011 and "Republicans may force Democrat's hand by using repatriation as a bargaining chip for passing other legislation."

Ltd., of Tokyo, enrolled their first patient in a Phase III trial of ARQ197 in combination with Tarceva (erlotinib, Astellas Pharma and Roche AG) for nonsquamous, non-small-cell lung cancer...Cempra Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Chapel Hill, N.C., reported positive clinical data for its fluoroketolide antibiotic, solithromycin (CEM-1010) at the 5th Annual PHEMCE Stakeholders Workshop and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority Industry Day in Washington...Innate Pharma SA, of Marseilles

Acacia Pharma Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, started a Phase I trial of APD515, an optimized oromucosal formulation of a marketed drug for treating xerostomia in advanced cancer patients...LifeCycle Pharma A/S, of Horsholm, Denmark, reported positive top-line results from a Phase II trial of 58 patients comparing LCP-Tacro tablets administered once daily vs. Prograf (tacrolimus, Astellas Pharma US Inc.) capsules administered twice daily in de novo liver transplant patients for one year

Symphogen CEO Kirsten Drejer told BioWorld Today that the placement surpassed a $98.5 million funding round in March 2010 by Archimedes Pharma Ltd., of Reading, UK...and Europe, and other clinical and preclinical oncology opportunities...LifeCycle Pharma A/S, of Hørsholm, Denmark, announced that it completed its fully subscribed rights offering of 395,974,671 new shares, raising net proceeds of approximately $79 million

The rising price in part reflects the stunning Phase II clinical success of the Bothell, Wash.-based company's lymphoma candidate, brentuximab vedotin...In October, the company reported positive clinical results for its TAP drug lorvotuzumab mertansine (IMGN901) for Merkel cell carcinoma, small-cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, multiple myeloma and other tumors that express the CD56 antigen. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 12, 2010.) Immunogen also has deals with some big players in the industry...Chiva is

The drug candidate is being dosed in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapies, and Tetralogic has a full slate of clinical trials planned in the coming months...EyeGate Pharma Inc., of Waltham, Mass., received $5.9 million in a Series D financing, bringing its total raised to date to $28.5 million...Gliknik Inc., of Baltimore, Md., raised $3.5 in equity financing to initiate clinical testing of a candidate, GL-2045, for autoimmune disease

Zealand Pharma launched its IPO with 4.3 million new shares, priced at DKK86 per share...Clinical studies are slated to start in early 2011...Cardiome Pharma Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, filed a short form base shelf prospectus with securities regulatory authorities in Canada and a shelf registration with the SEC on form F-10 to restore its original capacity under a previous base shelf prospectus that expired Dec. 5

XenoPort has been developing its lead product XP13512 (gabapentin enacarbil) with its partners Astellas Pharma Inc...The Horizant NDA resubmission also included a final safety update, which provided updated and new safety information on patients in clinical studies who have been treated with the drug...Geron said it plans to use the net proceeds for R&D, including clinical trials for its product candidates, development activities for in-licensed products and other general corporate purposes

QR Pharma Inc., of Radnor, Pa., said the FDA accepted its investigational new drug application to start clinical trials of bisnorcymserine, which is designed to target Alzheimer's disease via selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibition as well as with a disease-modifying activity via amyloid precursor protein inhibition

The data were published in Clinical Cancer Research...Verona Pharma plc, of London, started a higher-dose Phase II trial of RPL554, a long-acting phosphodiesterase-3/4 inhibitor for asthma

Staff Writer Tranzyme Pharma Inc., of Durham, N.C., filed for a proposed $75 million initial public offering to support clinical development of product candidates ulimorelin and TZP-102 for the treatment of acute (hospital-based) and chronic gastrointestinal motility disorders...The company said it is focused on two key ion channel targets against which it has already developed a pipeline of compounds that are in clinical and pre-clinical development.

Acceleron Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., presented interim results from the first-in-human Phase I trial of angiogenesis inhibitor ACE-041 that showed clinical efficacy in end-stage cancer patients, the company said

BioWorld Today Contributing Writer Clavis Pharma ASA raised $25.7 million in a private placement of 4.4 million new shares, at NOK35 per share (US$5.84), a sum that will carry the firm for two years...Other activities to be funded include preclinical proof of concept and early clinical development of CP-4200 and companion diagnostic development for hENT1 (human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1) biomarkers...Tranche 2, of 2.285 million new shares, will be subject to approval by an extraordinary