The company is organizing a competition in which academics submit a one-page application outlining a novel drug development concept

Total Value in 2013: $6,192M* Number of Deals in 2013: 97 Company (Location) Company (Location) Value (M) Type/Product Area Terms/Details Date APRIL Alchemia Ltd. (Brisbane, Australia) AstraZeneca AB (Sodertalje, Sweden; unit of AstraZeneca plc) $240 Deal for Alchemia's Diversity Scanning Array and Versatile Assembly on Stable Templates technologies to discover and develop small molecules for multiple targets in the oncology, respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolism, infection and neuroscience

Taking an inventive route to drug development, Oncos Therapeutics Ltd

Shield Therapeutics Ltd., of London, named Julian Howell group medical director and VP of drug development, and added Lynn Drummond to its board

The draft plan builds on a qualitative, descriptive framework the agency developed and tested over the past few years in an effort to facilitate a balanced, consistent consideration of benefit and risk factors during the review process and to enhance the transparency of that process over the life cycle of a drug. (See BioWorld Today, March 8, 2013.) Both trade groups asked the agency to consider using the framework earlier in drug development...Imposition of a de-facto comparative effectiveness

Ltd., said Harvard Medical School presented data at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference in Seattle showing a major link between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C levels and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and that assessment of Opthea's drug development candidate, VGX-300 (a soluble form of VEGF receptor-3 that blocks VEGF-C and VEGF-D) in animal models of wet AMD confirmed its potential as a new therapy for the disease

It is the target of some drug development efforts – Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc

For those types of deals, Array is often only responsible for very early drug development...Instead, running the trial gives Array experience in the final stages of drug development

Patients don't benefit from this type of approach." – Carlo Toniatti, head of research at the Institute for Applied Cancer Science and the Center for Co-Clinical Trials at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discussing improved clinical success rates for cancer drugs identified by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development "It's been a long time since we did a public financing – 12 or 13 years – and we've managed through by being cautious in how we spend our cash and by

In a preliminary prospectus supplement filed with the SEC May 7, the company said proceeds will be used to expand its drug development activities and to move certain candidates to later stages of development prior to partnering

Ltd., said Harvard Medical School presented data at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference in Seattle showing a major link between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C levels and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and that assessment of Opthea's drug development candidate, VGX-300 (a soluble form of VEGF receptor-3 that blocks VEGF-C and VEGF-D) in animal models of wet AMD confirmed its potential as a new therapy for the disease

The draft plan builds on a qualitative, descriptive framework the agency developed and tested over the past few years in an effort to facilitate a balanced, consistent consideration of benefit and risk factors during the review process and to enhance the transparency of that process over the life cycle of a drug. (See BioWorld Today, March 8, 2013.) Both trade groups asked the agency to consider using the framework earlier in drug development...Imposition of a de-facto comparative effectiveness

Prior to last year, the acts had been on five-year review cycles that made them subject to frequent change. (See BioWorld Today, April 19, 2012.) By making the programs permanent, Congress signaled its commitment to pediatric drug development and encouraged greater investment in the space...Now that BPCA and PREA are a permanent part of the drug development landscape, more pediatric studies are being proposed, Womack said

Drais isn't biotech's first dedicated drug development company

While drug development remains highly complex, drug companies are making headway in improving the development process," said Joseph A. DiMasi, director of economic analysis at Tufts CSDD, who served as principal investigator of the study...I would expect these findings to carry forward," he said, noting that progress in cancer drug development is accelerating, with 10 FDA approvals of cancer drugs in 2012 and four related approvals in cancer diagnostics and in the treatment of precancerous

Deal structures now emphasize a heavy dose of risk-sharing with downstream performance milestones and smaller upfront payments reflecting the uncertain economic environment in which drug development now operates

Deal structures now emphasize a heavy dose of risk-sharing with downstream performance milestones and smaller upfront payments reflecting the uncertain economic environment in which drug development now operates

The blood-brain barrier greatly restricts the molecules that can pass into the brain, including potential pharmacological agents, and is one reason that neurological drug development is even more difficult than average...classification, which may have a direct effect on treatment recommendations for patients, and provides opportunities for genome-guided clinical trials and drug development

The mainstay of neurological drug development is to identify a transmitter system that is deregulated in a disease, and then find a drug that will modify that transmitter's effects