Galapagos will fund and complete a Phase II program in Crohn's designed to expedite the drug candidate's progression into Phase III

LONDON – As pharma's quest for pipeline-boosting innovation pushes further into academia, GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) has launched Discovery Fast Track to accelerate the translation of target biology into drug candidates

Ltd. (Osaka, Japan) ND License agreement giving Maruishi exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize Cara's lead analgesic drug candidate, CR845, for acute pain and uremic pruritus in Japan Cara received an undisclosed up-front payment, including an equity investment, and is eligible for milestone payments and royalties 4/30/13 Cerecor Inc. (Baltimore) Merck & Co

purchased an option to acquire Alvine Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s drug candidate for celiac disease or the company itself...engaged Plexus Ventures to explore options for topical drug candidate DSC127 outside the U.S. Fibrocell Science Inc.'s common stock has been approved for listing on the NYSE Market

Galapagos will fund and complete a Phase II program in Crohn's designed to expedite the drug candidate's progression into Phase III

Nuvo Research Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, reported preclinical data suggesting its immune modulating drug candidate WF10 showed a therapeutic impact on signs and symptoms of experimentally induced rheumatoid arthritis in mice

Nuvo Research Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, said researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI and Nuvo presented data on its immune-modulating drug candidate, WF10, including its therapeutic impact on signs and symptoms of experimentally induced rheumatoid arthritis in mice at the 100th Annual Meeting of The American Association of Immunologists in Honolulu

Derma Sciences Inc., of Princeton, N.J., engaged strategic advisor Plexus Ventures to explore options for topical drug candidate DSC127 outside the U.S. The process is expected to take nine to 15 months and to culminate with one or more agreements covering specific geographies or countries in Europe, Asia and emerging markets

AbbVie Inc.'s $70 million up front buys an option to acquire Alvine Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s drug candidate for celiac disease or the company itself, after Phase IIb trials are finished with ALV003, a two-enzyme combo that degrades gluten

oncolytic virus-based drug candidate Late-stage melanoma, prostate, breast or colorectal cancer Finalized the clinical study report on the Phase I evaluation, with results showing it was well tolerated, with some evidence of stable disease 4/10/13 CARDIOVASCULAR Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Carlsbad, Calif.) ISIS-APOARx An antisense drug targeting apolipoprotein(a) Atherosclerosis Started a Phase I trial 4/4/13 CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc. (Canton, Mass.) Oxycodone DETERx

drug candidate Duchenne's muscular dystrophy FDA has asked for additional information from its existing eteplirsen dataset before making a determination about an NDA filing for the drug under Subpart H accelerated approval 4/17/13 Notes: BLA = Biologics license application

iCo, which in-licenses and repurposes existing drug candidates, is in Phase II studies with iCo-007 in diabetic macular enema

In other words, if the protein is effective, clinical development might be more rapid than in cases where a drug candidate has to be identified to recapitulate an effect

Under the agreement, Nimbus will use its computational chemistry development platform to profile molecules against the selected target and deliver a drug candidate that is ready to enter late preclinical studies...Nimbus will control and conduct research up to achievement of drug candidate status, at which point Shire will have an exclusive option to acquire the program and assume clinical development and future commercialization activities

Ltd. (Tokyo) ND For successful in vitro and in vivo studies validating a range of Anticalin targeted protein drug candidates designed to bind a Daiichi target 4/19/13 Zymeworks Inc. (Vancouver, British Columbia) Merck & Co

Heptares generated the first stabilized form of the target, which can be used to design a series of drug candidates aimed at the specified GPCR

TikoMed AB, of Viken, Sweden, initiated a Phase I/II study of orphan drug candidate TM-400, designed to improve the outcome of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in hematological cancers such as multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma

Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, said they entered a license agreement providing Maruishi exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize Cara's lead analgesic drug candidate, CR845, for acute pain and uremic pruritus in Japan...Heptares generated the first stabilized form of the target, which can be used to design a series of drug candidates aimed at the specified GPCR

AbbVie took several dozen marketed products and a portfolio of late-stage compounds in immunology, neuroscience and oncology, leaving Abbott to focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 3, 2013.) In April Canadian biotech company Resverlogix Corp., of Calgary, Alberta, said it was spinning out its epigenetics platform into RVX Therapeutics Inc., leaving ApoA-I stimulating drug candidate, RVX-208, with the parent company