SHANGHAI – Beigene Co. Ltd. has licensed a second-generation BRAF inhibitor as a promising preclinical oncology drug to Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, for the treatment of melanoma, colorectal cancer and other cancers. It marks what may be only the second instance of a Chinese company licensing a novel molecule to a multinational pharma firm. The first was the deal with AstraZeneca plc for Shanghai-based Hutchison MediPharma Ltd.'s c-Met inhibitor candidate volitinib (HMPL-504) in 2011
By Larry Schuster | BioWorld International | Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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
By Dave Silver | BioWorld International | Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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
By Nuala Moran | BioWorld International | Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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
By Nuala Moran | BioWorld International | Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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
By Cormac Sheridan | BioWorld International | Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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
By Sharon Kingman | BioWorld International | Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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
By Shannon Ellis | BioWorld International | Wednesday, June 12, 2013
