TAIPEI, Taiwan – It's been a long wait, but Taiwan's drug development industry might just be coming of age. While the island nation is still awaiting its first home-grown innovator drug, a number of companies are almost there. As evidence, market capitalization of companies in the sector has skyrocketed at an astounding rate over the past few years, jumping from $3 billion in 2009 to $15 billion in 2013, according to Taiwan's Bio Industry Organization. It's about time, since at least the mid

LONDON – Autifony Therapeutics Ltd. has started Phase I development of AUT00063, its treatment for age-related hearing loss and tinnitus, and raised a further £5.5 million (US$8.5 million) to take that lead program through to clinical proof of concept. £5 million of the new money comes from Pfizer Venture Investments, the VC arm of Pfizer Inc., with the remainder coming from International Biotechnology Trust plc. The funding is an extension to the Series A round and brings the amount raised by

LONDON – A £9.3 million (US$14.43 million) publicly funded ubiquitin research program has overcome difficulties in drugging those key protein recycling targets, leading to the formation of UB Pharma Ltd., which has now set out to raise £4 million to £6 million to take the lead candidates through to the clinic. The new company is in the final stages of agreeing to exclusive licenses for all the intellectual property generated in the four-year program, which was funded by Scotland's technology

DUBLIN, Ireland – Royalty Pharma's bitter and protracted takeover battle for Elan Corp. plc will, one way or another, reach a climax next Monday when Elan shareholders vote on the company's recent M&A deals. Acceptance of those transactions, which requires a vote representing 50 percent of Elan's equity plus one share, would scupper Royalty's takeover bid. Rejection would signal the end of the road for Dublin, Ireland-based Elan, a company that has, over the years, taken its shareholders

LONDON – The identification of the exact molecule on the insides of blood vessels to which malaria parasites stick will allow an immediate start on work to develop vaccines and new therapies for severe forms of malaria, the scientists who made the discovery predicted. Research published in Nature showed that the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, binds to a human protein that plays a key role in regulating blood clotting and the response to inflammation. Thomas Lavstsen, assistant

SHANGHAI, China – While the presidents from the U.S. and China have met in a summit to address human rights and cyber-attack issues, it's become clear that U.S. biopharmaceutical firms have not been immune to targeted hacking out of China. These efforts may have yielded valuable data from clinical trials or drug registration applications. Since the earliest identified cases in 2008, there has been a visible uptick in the number of hacking incidents involving biotech firms, according to Mandiant

Andromeda Biotech Ltd., of Yavne, Israel, reported findings from an extension study of its Phase III trial of DiaPep277 in Type I diabetes. The open-label, 24-month extension study was designed to evaluate long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy for two years following the completion of the Phase III study, DIA-AID 1 in November 2011. Forty-three patients who completed two years in the DIA-AID 1 study and who had residual beta cell function (stimulated C-peptide over 0.2 nmol/L) were

3SBio Inc., of Shenyang, China, said it completed its merger with Decade Sunshine Ltd., an exempted company with limited liability incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. The firm also requested that trading of its American depositary shares on Nasdaq be suspended, while it works to delist its registered securities. Addex Therapeutics SA, of Geneva, completed a previously announced restructuring, and Bharatt Chowrir stepped down effectively immediately as CEO and as director of

LONDON – A new study has given hope that it may one day be possible to develop a specific treatment for neuroblastoma, which is a rare type of childhood cancer. Researchers in Sweden have shown that blocking the function of a molecule that is overexpressed in neuroblastoma cells can shrink tumors and prolong survival in a mouse model of that disease. A similar strategy may also work for many other cancers, the scientists suggested, because the molecule that is overexpressed in neuroblastoma is

German biotech received a badly needed boost this week with the news that GlaxoSmithKline plc was in-licensing MOR103, an antibody in clinical development in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS) at veteran antibody developer Morphosys AG, in return for an up-front payment of €22.5 million (US$29 million), plus another potential €423 million in milestones linked to its progress through clinical development, regulatory approval and sales. Martinsried, Germany-based Morphosys also

GHENT, Belgium – The pharmaceutical industry has enjoyed 60 years of stability and is now – whether it likes it or not – ripe for disruption. That was the main message Bernard Munos, of InnoThink Center for Research in Biomedical Innovation in Indianapolis, delivered to delegates at a heavily attended keynote at the Knowledge for Growth meeting at the International Convention Center last week. "Disruption is a good thing when it happens to others, but we fear it when it happens to us," Munos

LONDON – Bergenbio AS has raised $6 million in a Series B round supported by all the existing investors, providing funding for a number of Phase I trials of its lead product BGB 324, a first-in-class AXL receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. AXL kinase is central to the cell-to-cell signal transduction process known as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), by which cancer cells escape to form metastases and also is involved in the development of resistance to chemotherapeutics, most notably

LONDON – A new company has been spun out of genomics pioneer Oxagen Ltd. to take forward the lead compound OC459 in fresh indications. The product has successfully completed Phase IIb development in asthma, but following the Phase II failures of two other compounds in the same class that were being developed by AstraZeneca plc and Amgen Inc., it proved impossible to raise the funding, or secure a partner, to take the CRTH2 antagonist into a Phase III asthma study. Instead, the rights to OC459

LONDON – Nanobiotix SA presented positive safety data from the first clinical study of NBTXR3, a nanoparticle drug that enhances the effects of radiotherapy on tumor cells without damaging healthy tissue, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago on Saturday. The results of the Phase I trial in soft-tissue sarcoma now will pave the way for the Paris-based company to intensify negotiations with potential partners for North American rights. NBTXR3, a nanoparticle

GHENT, Belgium – Patrik De Haes, CEO of Thrombogenics NV, rang the opening bell – albeit remotely – on the NYSE Euronext Brussels exchange to kick off proceedings at the 2013 Knowledge For Growth meeting at the International Convention Center in Ghent, Belgium, last Thursday. The ceremony marked the company's recent entry into the BEL20 index of Belgium's 20 most heavily traded stocks. It represents a coming of age for Leuven-based Thrombogenics and further evidence of the evolution of the

LONDON – The publicly funded UK center set up to accelerate the commercialization of cell therapies has signed its first deal with big pharma, agreeing to work with GlaxoSmithKline plc on a range of research projects and technical and regulatory strategies for getting products to market. The collaboration was announced as the center, known as the Cell Therapy Catapult, published a survey of all the 71 cell therapy products in preclinical and clinical development in the UK. Most are early stage

LONDON – Two of Europe's longest-standing public biotechs are leaving the stage following clinical trial failures, with Agennix AG going into liquidation and Phytopharm plc announcing a reverse merger. Agennix has been looking for a path forward since the bust in August 2012, when it reported negative results for the 742-patient Fortis-M Phase III trial of lead product Talactoferrin alfa in treating advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. The result was unequivocal, with median overall survival of

3SBio Inc., of Shenyang, China, said its shareholders voted in favor of the proposal to merge with Decade Sunshine Ltd. The merger would result in 3SBio becoming a privately held subsidiary of Decade Sunshine, with its American depository shares no longer listed on Nasdaq. The company's board previously recommended that shareholders vote to authorize the merger, and the parties expect to complete the deal as soon as practicable. Addex Therapeutics SA, of Geneva, said its gamma-aminobutyric

LONDON – Following an 18-month hiatus, ImmuPharma plc can now proceed with Phase III development of its lupus treatment, Lupuzor, after agreeing to a £50 million (US$75.7 million) loan to finance the trial. The product has been stalled since October 2011 when ImmuPharma took back rights following the acquisition of its partner Cephalon Inc. by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. At that point, the London-based company expected it would rapidly find another partner and said it would not do any