In separate news, Hyperion said it exercised its option to acquire Buphenyl (sodium phenylbutyrate) tablets and powder, an FDA-approved therapy for the chronic management of the most prevalent UCDs, and Ammonul (sodium phenylacetate and sodium benzoate) injection, a hospital-based product used to treat UCD patients in hyperammonemic crisis, from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., of Montreal...The big pharma firm stated that it has opted to prioritize the fixed-ratio combination of Lantus

Addex Therapeutics SA, of Geneva, said regulatory authorities in the Netherlands gave approval to start in the first half of this year a Phase I study of ADX71441, a GABA-B receptor positive allosteric modulator, for Charcot-Marie-Tooth1A (CMT1A) neuropathy and other disease indications...Andain Inc., of Arad, Israel, completed the development of lipid-based drug delivery nanoparticles that can carry hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs to a targeted human organ with timely drug-release capabilities

Andain Inc., of Arad, Israel, completed the development of lipid-based drug delivery nanoparticles that can carry hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs to a targeted human organ with timely drug-release capabilities...Novartis has worldwide rights to the drug, along with certain backup compounds in all indications, with Incyte retaining a co-development option to INC280 in the U.S...Due to third-party manufacturing issues, distribution of Janssen Products LP's Caelyx in Europe has been intermittently

Santaris Pharma A/S, of Hoersholm, Denmark, said the European Patent Office issued minutes of the oral proceedings specifying the board of appeal's decision to maintain EP 1015469, the "Wengel" patent, with claims to amino- and thio-LNA nucleotides and oligonucleotides...The assets include Unigene's Peptelligence drug delivery and recombinant manufacturing platforms and all other assets comprising the firm's Biotechnologies Strategic Business Unit

Another $13 million to $15 million in equipment, integration service and testing will be provided by Agila...Cardiome Pharma Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said Institutional Shareholder Services Inc...The compounds are thought to have relevance for Parkinson's disease

In other news, Evotec said a compound identified and optimized in a research collaboration with Osaka, Japan-based Ono Pharmaceutical Co...In separate news, Janssen reported that the FDA's Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 10-5 late Thursday to recommend approval of canaglifozin, a selective sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor, to treat Type II diabetes in adults

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...Under the agreement, ALS TDI will use to-BBB's CNS-targeted liposomal drug delivery system, the G-Technology, to enhance the transport of several different compounds across the blood-brain barrier

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

Earlier this year, the company inked a potential $33 million strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp., of Osaka, Japan, to develop and commercialize at least three vaccines using the VLP technology. (See BioWorld Today, March 7, 2012...Shares of Somaxon (NASDAQ:SOMX) soared on the buyout news, gaining 80.3 percent, or $1.18, to close Tuesday at $2.65. (See BioWorld Today, March 19, 2010, July 16, 2010, Aug. 26, 2010, and June 9, 2011...Ltd., pursuant to the existing license

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

In addition to active involvement in the development of the monoclonal antibody, AET BioTech will provide additional investment in the biosimilar based on committed long-term financing and will oversee future commercialization of the product...IL-17 mediated signaling is known to induce the expression of cytokines and other effectors in a variety of immunological diseases such as psoriasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...Phosphagenics Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, will license its

subsidiary, Diamyd Inc., involved in drug development primarily relating to the patented Nerve Targeting Drug Delivery System (NTDDS) platform with applications in pain and neuropathy among others...LEO Pharma A/S, of Ballerup, Denmark, disclosed plans to establish five long-term, strategic research collaborations in Australia, France, Germany and the U.S

Prior to the merger, BioSante will distribute contingent value rights to its stockholders providing rights related to LibiGel (female testosterone gel...The company's PLX (PLacental eXpanded) cells are an off-the-shelf drug delivery platform designed to release a cocktail of therapeutic proteins in response to a host of local and systemic inflammatory and ischemic diseases

BioAlliance Pharma SA, of Paris, said it executed a licensing agreement with Vestiq Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., to commercialize Oravig in the U.S...Other partners in the consortium include IBIS Technologies BV, Infors Benelux BV and Wageningen University

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

MEI Pharma Inc., of San Diego, will acquire Singapore-based S*BIO Pte Ltd.'s exclusive worldwide rights to pracinostat, an oral histone deacetylase inhibitor of interest for hematologic diseases and solid tumors...in order to respond to growing demand from clinical trial sites for its Phase III trial in glioblastoma

rights to Levadex as well as rights to promote to U.S.-based primary care physicians. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 1, 2011.) MAP plans to bring in other partners to exploit those additional segments inside and outside the U.S., according to Nelson

Antisense Pharma GmbH, of Regensburg, Germany said it has been granted orphan drug designation from the FDA for its oncology antisense compound trabedersen to treat malignant melanoma...Catalent Inc., of San Diego, began supplying Abilify OD Tablets (orally disintegrating tablets) using its Zydis fast-dissolve drug delivery technology to Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co...In other news from Forest, shareholder Carl Icahn and the company are continuing their battle over the leadership and direction of the firm

The results are consistent with other studies that showed the safety of the product up to 2,000 mg/kg/day...R-Tech Ueno, of Tokyo, will conduct a collaborative study with Tohoku University to develop a minimally invasive, sustained drug delivery system for isopropyl unoprostone