Terms call for Alchemia to receive an undisclosed up-front payment, in addition to the $240 million in preclinical, clinical and commercial launch milestone payments and a single-digit royalty on products that reach the market

Merck will continue to retain rights to its existing portfolio of sitagliptin-containing products...The first suit pertains to a previously disclosed investigation into discounts and rebates to specialty pharmacies for Myfortic

Under the terms, Cara received an undisclosed up-front payment, including an equity investment, and is eligible for further milestone payments tied to clinical and regulatory events in Japan and the U.S., as well as royalties on Japanese sales of any marketed products containing CR845...Under the terms of the 2011 agreement, Takeda will have global rights to the drugs emerging from the collaboration, and Heptares received a $1.6 million up-front payment and a $4.3 million equity investment. (See

Terms call for Alchemia to receive an undisclosed up-front payment, in addition to the $240 million in preclinical, clinical and commercial launch milestone payments and a single-digit royalty on products that reach the market

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

Avilex Pharma ApS, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said it has received seed funding from Novo Seeds, the early stage financing arm of Novo A/S, which will be used to support the development of dimeric ligands targeting PDZ domains...In other news, GSK experienced manufacturing delays for manufacture and supply of Horizant (gabapentin enacarbil), partnered with XenoPort Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., resulting in a stockout of the drug...The firms will aim to offer pharma and biotech companies a set of fully

The objective of the offer is to return to shareholders up to $1 billion of the up-front payment from Weston, Mass.-based Biogen Idec Inc. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 7, 2013...Innate Pharma SA, of Marseille, France, reported preclinical data for two of its programs

Furiex inked the deal with Menarini in 2012, giving the Italian pharma firm rights to commercialize Priligy in Europe, most of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East...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

Acceleron Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said the FDA granted orphan designation for ACE-536 for the treatment of beta-thalassemia and for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes...Under the terms, BDSI will make an up-front payment of $2 million to Arcion in the form of unregistered shares of BDSI common stock...Other candidates currently undergoing tests required for investigational new drug applications with the FDA include an undisclosed iBioLaunch-produced monoclonal antibody and vaccines

Under the terms, Theravance granted Clinigen exclusive rights in those territories in exchange for a $5 million up-front payment, plus tiered royalties on net sales of Vibativ ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent...In other news, Elan said its Tysabri (natalizumab) restructuring transaction is set to close with Weston, Mass.-based Biogen Idec Inc

Celtic Therapeutics Management LLLP, of New York, changed its name to Auven Therapeutics Management LLLP to overcome confusion related to other Celtic entities...Under the terms, Theravance granted Clinigen exclusive rights in those territories in exchange for a $5 million up-front payment, plus tiered royalties on net sales of Vibativ ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent...Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., and Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, said they entered an agreement under which

The companies will target development of drugs to treat topical ophthalmic diseases, including ocular allergy, dry eye and other inflammatory eye conditions...Araxes Pharma LLC, of San Diego, said it inked an exclusive arrangement with Janssen Biotech Inc., a unit of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson, to develop first-in-class therapeutics against a certain cancer target

Samsung will get an up-front payment from Merck, product supply income and will be eligible for additional payments associated with pre-specified clinical and regulatory milestones...and Europe to extend the marketing authorization for Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) for the treatment of adults with active psoriatic arthritis and for active axial spondyloarthritis

The deal called for an up-front payment of $5.9 million, sales milestones of up to $50 million and annual net sales payments tiered up to a double-digit percentage of global net sales, potentially exceeding an aggregate of $300 million...ProBioGen AG, of Berlin, said another undisclosed global pharma company licensed rights to its GlymaxX ADCC-enhancement technology

The companies partnered last year in a potential $200 million deal giving Avanir worldwide rights to AVP-786 and other deuterium-modified dextromethorphan compounds. (See BioWorld Today, March 1, 2012...Dyax Corp., of Burlington, Mass., and CVie Therapeutics, of Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd., entered a deal to develop and commercialize Dyax's Kalbitor (ecallantide) for hereditary angioedema and other angioedema indications in China, Hong Kong and Macau...Zealand Pharma

Isotechnika Pharma Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, and privately held Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Victoria, British Columbia, said they signed a binding term sheet for a merger to create a clinical-stage firm focused on the global nephrology market...Under the terms, Bio-Link will work with Phylogica to monetize those assets through out-licensing or disposal of the Phylomer peptides to a pharma or biotech company...Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc., of Carmiel, Israel, said it engaged Citigroup to assist

In other news, Boehringer Ingelheim said it enrolled the first patients in its Phase III interferon-free (IFN-free) program, HCVerso, testing its IFN-free polymodal regimen combining faldaprevir (BI 201335), a next-wave once-daily protease inhibitor, and BI 207127, a non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor, plus ribavirin in hepatitis C virus...Janssen Pharmaceutica holds option rights to acquire global commercial licenses to additional internal programs at Galapagos, which stands to receive up to €1

In other news, Evotec said it expanded its collaboration with MedImmune, part of London-based AstraZeneca plc, after hitting a key milestone...Under the agreement, Pepscan will use its CLIPS platform and other protein mimicry technologies to help discover new antibodies

The Merck expansion grants the big pharma further access to Adimab's technology to discover and optimize fully human antibody candidates, including potentially bispecific antibody candidates, across all disease areas...Lotus Tissue Repair Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it agreed to be acquired by Shire plc, of Dublin, Ireland, for an undisclosed up-front payment and certain contingent payments based on the achievement of certain safety and development milestones