Eggs: Fresh or Stale? Researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science have weighed in on the question of whether female mammals have germ-line stem cells that are capable of generating new egg cells. Recent reports have questioned the long-held notion that female mammals are born with all the eggs they will ever possess, suggesting instead that they have stem cells capable of generating new eggs. In their work, the researchers used a sensitive labeling system to see whether they could

LONDON – Galapagos NV has raised €53.9 million (US$70.7 million) in an over-subscribed placing in which it has tapped into the strong appetite U.S. investors currently have for biotechnology. This is Galapagos' fourth private placing since it went public in May 2005. "It definitely was easier than previous rounds: there was a minimal discount and we have attracted premier investment groups, in particular in the U.S.," said Onno von de Stolpe, CEO. "It's been a fantastic success," he told

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. were down nearly 10 percent Friday following Thursday's after-market release of first-quarter earnings, which included news that the San Diego-based biotech is pulling its European marketing application for obesity drug Belviq (lorcaserin), though the bigger disappointment may be the ongoing delay in Belviq's U.S. launch. The stock (NASDAQ:ARNA), which traded at more than 30 times its normal volume, closed Friday at $7.63, down 77 cents. Arena's drug made

Acceleron Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said Shire plc, of Dublin, Ireland, concluded the firms' collaboration on ACE-031 and related molecules. The development of ACE-031 was suspended in February 2011, and the firms since have conducted preclinical studies to determine whether to resume clinical testing. Shire and Acceleron have now decided not to restart the development of that program. Acceleron said it remains focused on the 11 Phase II studies under way across its three

ChemRar Ventures, of Moscow, said it signed a scouting agreement, for a period of 18 months, with Sanofi SA to source a venture investment in Russia. ChemRar will be concentrating on early and late-stage compounds within a certain defined area of Sanofi's therapeutic interest and will be negotiating the potential pharma partnering engagement with Sanofi. Within the framework of the agreement, ChemRar said it will partner with a number of academic Institutions, including the Moscow Institute of

Acorda Therapeutics Inc., of Ardsley, N.Y., reported net revenues from sales of multiple sclerosis drug Ampyra (dalfampridine) totaling $62.3 million for the first quarter. Sales were down from the fourth quarter of 2012, said Acorda, citing several factors, including patients switching health care plans, inventory stocking in the fourth quarter and increased discounts and allowances from Medicare patients entering the "donut hole" at the start of the year. Sales rebounded in March, however

Abide Therapeutics Inc.'s potential $430 million deal with Merck & Co. Inc. is focusing on Type II diabetes by way of small molecules that take aim at members of the serine hydrolase enzyme family. San Diego-based Abide's platform involves proteomic technology from the Scripps Research Institute. A probe labels the active sites of serine hydrolases, after which Abide scientists screen the Scripps-made, 1,000-member small-molecule library to find compounds that obstruct the probe's labeling of a

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., reported additional findings for sufentanil NanoTab PCA system, its lead product in moderate to severe acute pain in the hospital setting. New analyses from the Phase III comparison trial demonstrated that sufentanil delivered through the AcelRx system produced greater reduction in pain intensity in the first four hours after initiating treatment than intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) with morphine (p < 0.01). In addition

Despite moving testimony from patients stressing the need for more options to treat advanced kidney cancer, the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 13-1 Thursday against the adequacy of AVEO Oncology Inc.'s single Phase III trial to support the approval of tivozanib. In a bit of a free fall since the FDA's negative briefing documents were released Tuesday, the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech (NASDAQ:AVEO) halted trading during the meeting. ODAC's vote translated into new lows

Scientists have found that a protein complex present in breast milk can act as an adjuvant for a range of antibiotics, sensitizing Staphylococcus aureus bacteria to antibiotics to which they have become resistant. The protein complex, HAMLET, has a multifaceted history as far as drug discovery is concerned. It was originally identified, Anders Hakansson told BioWorld Today, as part of a project looking at how breast milk protects babies from infections. But Hakansson and his colleagues soon

Risk-shy investors who'd rather bank on approved products make up Capital Royalty L.P.'s second fund, $805 million worth of private equity for betting in increments of between $20 million and $200 million, though the amounts could go higher. "There are very good early stage venture capitalists," such as Avalon Ventures, said Luke Düster, principal with Capital. "But, as the pathway to approval under the FDA becomes longer and more expensive, it requires either a significant amount of long-term

LONDON – Symphogen A/S has taken in a further €41 million (US$54.1 million) as an extension to an earlier €100 million round agreed in 2011, bringing the total raised to $185 million. "For a private biotech, it's a pleasure to have more than €100 million," said Kirsten Drejer, CEO. The extra funding will be used "to extend the runway, not to add more programs," she told BioWorld Today. The spur for raising more money was the validation of Symphogen's antibody mixtures technology in a $632

Less than a year after licensing constipation drug elobixibat from Swedish biotech Albireo AB, Ferring Pharmaceuticals SA initiated enrollment in two Phase III trials of the investigational compound in chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC). The randomized, double-blind studies, Echo 1 and Echo 2, will be conducted at nearly 200 sites worldwide and will enroll approximately 1,700 patients, aiming to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of repeated daily doses of elobixibat against placebo over a

Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. expressed surprise and disappointment after receiving a complete response letter (CRL) late Tuesday from the FDA for investigational drug Probuphine, a subdermal implant designed for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence in adults. The reaction may have been warranted, however. At first blush, the CRL appeared to have all the trappings of an ambush. The South San Francisco-based company said the CRL requested additional clinical data demonstrating both the

Much aging research has approached its subject by looking at the molecular processes that drive or slow down aging in individual cells. Sirtuin research is one example, as are investigations into telomeres or the aging marker p16ink4a. (See BioWorld Today, March 25, 2011, and Dec. 27, 2011.) But such studies beg one fundamental question of aging: how tissues do it in concert. Does aging happen at the same time throughout the body because the cells in a living being get their start at the same

Biopharma firms that are working on medical countermeasures (MCMs) to combat radiation exposure are looking to a joint FDA advisory committee meeting Friday to help define a path for development of treatments for use in radiological or nuclear events. Members of the Medical Imaging Drugs Advisory Committee and the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee will discuss whether data from a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)-sponsored study, which showed that the addition to

SAN FRANCISCO – When AiCuris GmbH, of Wuppertal, Germany, analyzed the market for human cytomegalovirus therapies, it found a market with high medical need, neglected by big pharma, featuring a variety of disease manifestations. The market had also fallen under the radar of payers, all resulting in low competition, with the potential for high prices and low marketing and sales costs, according to Helga Rubsamen-Schaeff, AiCuris CEO. In her presentation for a panel featuring the nominees for

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., reported total first-quarter 2013 revenues of $328 million, including net product revenues of $206 million from Incivek (telaprevir) and $62 million from Kalydeco (ivacaftor), launched in the U.S. in February 2012. The company's GAAP net loss was $308 million, or $1.43 per share, for the first quarter of 2013. The first-quarter 2013 net product revenues from Incivek were $205.6 million, compared to $356.9 million for the first quarter of 2012