Bayer AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, signed an agreement to acquire the shares of Steigerwald Arzneimittelwerk GmbH, of Darmstadt, Germany, a privately held pharmaceutical company specializing in pharmacy-only herbal medicines...The company plans to use proceeds to repurchase common stock and for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of outstanding commercial paper borrowings and upcoming debt maturities

Merck will continue to retain rights to its existing portfolio of sitagliptin-containing products...Novartis said the suit is a significant expansion of the anti-kickback statute that is inconsistent with law and policy in this area, and threatens to undermine pharmaceutical company discounting practices that benefit both consumers and payers

The performance of pharmaceutical companies BIO 2012 to BIO 2013 reveals that there is indeed life beyond the patent cliff, with the Amex Pharmaceutical Index registering a 20 percent jump in value...According to Credit Suisse analyst Ravi Mehrotra writing in a research note, "We do not think that we are in a 'biotech bubble,' given that the drivers of the biotech sector's YTD performance are very different from those in '99/'00...Editor's Note: The BioWorld editorial team will be providing

That's allowed pharmaceutical companies to be very attracted to these programs...Kengatharan declined to disclose Armetheon's financing to date but said the company is able to draw from a convertible note as it moves toward a Series A

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

patents relating to Exalgo to sell Actavis' 32-mg product beginning May 15, 2014...The recovery was the largest securities class action settlement against a pharmaceutical company, according to co-counsel Labaton Sucharow LLP...16 to $2 per share but did not change previously reported non-GAAP results. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 22, 2008, and March 10, 2009

The complaint alleges that Daiichi Sankyo pays female sales employees less than male employees for performing the same work, promotes or advances female sales employees at a slower rate than male sales employees, treats pregnant employees and working mothers of young children adversely compared to other employees and subjects women to other discriminatory terms and conditions of employment

Public biopharmaceutical companies, which had a great year, by and large were not able to fully leverage their increased stock valuations, successful clinical results and product approvals into follow-on and other financings...The company paid $350 million in cash, with the remainder made up of milestones: $195 million related to the development and regulatory approval of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) inhibitor AVL-292, and up to $380 million in potential payments contingent upon the development

The company paid $350 million in cash, with the remainder made up of milestones: $195 million related to the development and regulatory approval of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) inhibitor AVL-292, and up to $380 million in potential payments contingent upon the development and approval of candidates generated from Avila's Avilomics platform. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 27, 2012.) On the other side of the coin, Medicis was acquired by Canada's largest specialty pharma Valeant Pharmaceuticals

NovaDel Pharma Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., said it signed a preliminary agreement to sell its NovaMist technology to Australian public pharmaceutical company Suda Ltd

The databank will serve as a one-stop repository for key information about clinical trial sites, allowing participating pharmaceutical companies to reduce time-consuming and sometimes redundant administrative work in identifying appropriate clinical trial sites...Earlier this year, Janssen and nine other companies joined forces to create TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., an initiative aimed at identifying and overcoming common drug development challenges to improve the quality of clinical studies. (See

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Genzyme Corp., a unit of Sanofi SA, both of Cambridge, Mass., formed an alliance to develop and commercialize RNAi therapeutics targeting transthyretin for the treatment of transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR) in Japan and other Asia-Pacific countries...QR Pharma Inc., of Berwyn, Pa., said data presented at the Annual Biotech Symposium in Philadelphia showed that posiphen recovered memory, learning and brain function in Alzheimer transgenic mice...inked an

AspenBio Pharma Inc., of Castle Rock, Colo., said it is proposing to change its name to Venaxis Inc

Patients were randomized to three dose groups of intravenously administered ALX-0061 (1mg/kg every 4 weeks, 3mg/kg every 4 weeks and 6mg/kg every 8 weeks) or to placebo...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

A.P. Pharma Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., said it resubmitted its new drug application to the FDA for its lead product candidate, APF530, for the prevention of acute- and delayed-onset chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting...AVEO Oncology Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, said AVEO submitted a new drug application (NDA) seeking approval of tivozanib, a drug designed to target vascular endothelial growth factor, in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma...The

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...In other news from Forest, shareholder Carl Icahn and the company are continuing their battle over the leadership and direction of the firm in advance of an Aug. 15 annual meeting

Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, said it submitted a European marketing authorization application for enzalutamide (MDV3100) for treatment of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who previously have been treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy...The biomarkers will aim to track the rate of neurodegeneration in PD patients before any visible effect in disease progression occurs...To date, PTI has not submitted another new drug application for Remoxy. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 13

In other news, Alkermes said it will discontinue development of ALKS 37 in opioid-induced constipation after top-line results from a Phase IIb dose-ranging study failed to meet a predetermined product profile for advancing the compound...In other news, Astellas entered a second partnership with Drais Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., to develop and commercialize ASP7147, for irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea

Those and other data were presented at the Fourth Cooperative Meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers and the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis conference in San Diego...GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, said the waiting period under the Hart-Scott Rodino Act expired, giving the big pharma clearance to acquire Rockville, Md.-based Human Genome Sciences Inc...Other pipeline assets include raxibacumab for inhalation anthrax, darapladib for cardiovascular