Emisphere Technologies Inc., of Roseland, N.J., said it has agreed with Novo Nordisk A/S, of Bagsvaerd, Denmark, to amend their development and license agreement to develop and commercialize oral formulations of Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 receptor agonists, which have the potential of treating Type II diabetes, using the company's Eligen technology

biOasis Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said BT2111, a brain-penetrating conjugate of trastuzumab (Herceptin, Roche AG) and its Transcend vector designed to treat brain metatastsis of HER2-positive tumors, has moved into the next stage of preclinical development...The firms will aim to offer pharma and biotech companies a set of fully integrated nuclear receptor drug discovery capabilities by combining expertise in structural biology, medicinal chemistry, biology, DMPK

Clinigen Group plc, of Burton-on-Trent, UK, and Theravance Inc., of South San Francisco, entered an exclusive commercialization agreement in the European Union and certain other countries located in Europe for Vibativ (telavancin) in nosocomial pneumonia, including ventilator-associated pneumonia, known or suspected to be caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, when other alternatives are not suitable...In other news, Elan said its Tysabri (natalizumab) restructuring transaction is

biOasis Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said its Transcend-Herceptin Conjugate (BT2111) product (a conjugate of Roche AG's Herceptin [trastuzumab] and biOasis' brain delivery vector) reduced the number of metastatic human HER2-positive breast cancer tumors in the brains of test animals by 68 percent when compared to untreated control animals...The companies partnered last year in a potential $200 million deal giving Avanir worldwide rights to AVP-786 and other deuterium-modified

Toxicity experiments conducted to date revealed best-in-class potential with a greatly improved therapeutic index compared to other armed antibodies, due to an impressive safety profile, according to the company, which has opened a manufacturing facility in Nijmegen for the production of ADCs up to Phase III trials and early launches

to Firdapse, a drug in development for Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome BioMarin agreed to invest $5M in Catalyst under a promissory note and note purchase agreement 11/1/12 Colby Pharmaceutical Co. (San Jose, Calif.) MannKind Corp. (Valencia, Calif.) $140 Deal for disease-specific antigen compounds and intra-lymph node injection (INLI) technologies from its MKC1106 cancer vaccine program Colby is paying up to $140M in up-front and milestone payments to MannKind, which also will receive tiered

Akela Pharma Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it applied for voluntary delisting from the Toronto Stock Exchange, citing an inability to maintain the continuous listing requirements...biOasis Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, formed a research collaboration with UCB SA, of Brussels, Belgium, to evaluate the application of biOasis' technology for drug delivery to the brain

and strategic global markets Financial terms were not disclosed 9/12/12 Oxford BioMedica plc (Oxford, UK) Immune Design Corp. (Seattle) ND Master services deal to use Oxford BioMedica's expertise in lentiviral vector clinical development for Immune Design's therapeutic vaccine candidate for cancer and other chronic diseases Financial terms were not disclosed 9/28/12 QLT Inc. (Vancouver, British Columbia) Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (Montreal) $112.5 Sale of wet, age-related

In addition, they voted to approve a restated certificate of incorporation, a change of the company name from Nabi Biopharmaceuticals to Biota Pharmaceuticals Inc., a reverse stock split and issuance of shares of Nabi common stock to Biota stockholders

Curadev Pharma Private Ltd., of New Delhi, India, triggered a milestone payment from Endo Health Solutions, of Newark, Del., by advancing its oncology program to the next stage of development...Emisphere Technologies Inc., of Cedar Knolls, N.J., is in default of its 11 percent senior secured convertible notes issued to MHR Fund Management LLC as of Sept...oncology-focused company and a Top 20 pharma firm, in which MAB will deliver a number of monoclonal antibodies to partner-selected targets

Critical Outcome Technologies Inc., of London, Ontario, reported data broadening the mechanism of action of lead oncology drug COTI-2 beyond Akt inhibition...United Therapeutics Corp., of Silver Spring, Md., said under an exclusive agreement with Ascendis Pharma A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, it will apply Ascendis' TransCon technology platform to its treprostinil molecule, the active ingredient in Remodulin (treprostinil) injection for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH

In other news, BioLineRx said BL-7010, an oral candidate in celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, was found to be safe and well tolerated in preclinical studies presented at the Better Life for Coeliacs 2012 Conference in Helsinki, Finland...Due to the close relationship among Family B GPCRs, which have proven intractable to small-molecule chemistry, insights from the CRF structure will allow structural models to be generated for the entire family, Heptares said

Biogen Idec Inc., of Weston, Mass., sold royalty and other undisclosed rights to Benlysta (belimumab) to a fund managed by DRI Capital, of Toronto...Cardiome Pharma Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said the European Society of Cardiology updated guidelines for the treatment of adult patients with recent onset atrial fibrillation that include the intravenous formulation of Brinavess (vernakalant) and other treatments, when pharmacologic cardioversion is preferred, as first-line therapy for the

The contract is under Russia's "Pharma 2020" initiative and will provide funding over a period of about three years, which will be used to support completion of preclinical studies, filing of an investigational new drug application and Phase I and Phase II trials...Senesco Technologies Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., said the FDA granted orphan drug status to its lead candidate, SNS01-T, for the treatment of both mantle cell lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

BioTime Inc., of Alameda, Calif., signed an exclusive sublicense agreement and a supply agreement with Jade Therapeutics LLC, of Park City, Utah, to provide clinical-grade HyStem hydrogels and other technology for use by Jade in developing pharmaceutical products for ophthalmologic use...OPKO plans to commercialize a serum test based on four of the markers that provided a diagnostic sensitivity of 90 percent and a diagnostic specificity of 100 percent to distinguish NMO patients from those with

The research was conducted in collaboration with scientists from AlCana Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the University of British Columbia...Under the GAIN Act, the FDA will be required to provide sponsors of qualified infectious disease products with written recommendations for nonclinical and clinical studies necessary for approval, and to review and revise, as appropriate, guidelines for conduct of trials for antibiotic drugs

EUSA Pharma will retain its name outside the U.S...SIGA Technologies Inc., of New York, said it filed a notice of appeal seeking to overturn the Delaware Chancery Court's May 31 final order and judgment in the litigation that PharmAthene Inc., of Annapolis, Md., commenced in December 2006

PLx Pharma Inc., of Houston, said the FDA accepted for review a new drug application for PL2200 aspirin 325 mg...Senesco Technologies Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., released the characteristics and activity of its compound SNS01 in the online version of Molecular Therapy, showing that it regulates programmed cell death and tumor growth in mouse models of multiple myeloma

Agilent Technologies Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., will acquire Dako Denmark A/S, a cancer diagnostic company based in Glostrup, Denmark, for $2.2 billion, the largest acquisition in Agilent's history...to develop treatments for diabetes and other metabolic disorders