• Akela Pharma Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said its wholly owned subsidiary, Formulation Technologies LLC, received a notice of default and that on Feb. 13 the subsidiary also received a notice of disposition of collateral on default from a secured creditor. On Dec. 13, 2012, Formulation Technologies (the primary operating entity of Akela Pharma) entered into a facility lease with Alliance Diversified Holdings LLC, for a facility located in San Diego. In connection, it entered into a loan and security agreement with Biotech Investment Group LLC, relating to the funding of certain tenant improvements, relocation costs, security deposit, portions of rents related to the leased San Diego facility and certain other cash needs. On Dec. 31, 2012, the corporation defaulted on its interest payments due to its senior secured creditors. Upon conclusion of those transactions, the firm said it does not anticipate there to be any recovery for the shareholders or creditors of Akela. The company voluntarily delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange on Dec. 7, 2012.

• Cangene Corp., of Winnipeg, Manitoba, licensed rights to a technology platform for Alzheimer's drug discovery from the University of British Columbia. The licensing deal follows a research collaboration between the two organizations. Cangene plans to advance the program in its pipeline with the goal of developing an immune therapeutic for Alzheimer's targeting the toxic form of amyloid beta that is believed to cause the disease.

• Coronado Biosciences Inc., of Burlington, Mass., signed a research agreement and joint ownership and exclusive license agreement with Freie Universität Berlin for secretory proteins from Trichuris suis. The agreement covers evaluation of the proteins by in vitro and animal models to characterize the mechanism of action for Trichuris suis ova (CNDO-201) leading to identification of potential drug candidates. Under the agreement, Coronado will support research activities at Freie Universität Berlin for four years, in exchange for an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize products resulting from the work. Coronado will make milestone payments up to $5 million based on clinical and regulatory achievements, plus royalties on net sales of products. In conjunction with the agreement, Coronado sublicensed rights to Ovamed GmbH, of Barsbüttel, Germany, for territories outside North America, South America and Japan.

• Elan Corp., of Dublin, Ireland, said after the closing of the restructuring of the Tysabri collaboration with Biogen Idec Inc., of Weston, Mass., it plans to execute a number of strategic Initiatives: A portion of the $3.25 billion received from Biogen will be invested into a variety of business assets, which will diversify them from a product, science/clinical, therapeutic and geographic point of view. It will refinance its outstanding debt and institute a share repurchase program by utilizing $1 billion of the up-front proceeds from the Tysabri restructuring.

• Exelixis Inc., of South San Francisco, partnered with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi), of Stockholm, Sweden, to distribute and commercialize Cometriq (cabozantinib) for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer in the European Union and potentially other countries. The agreement will last for three years, with Exelixis maintaining full commercial rights outside the covered territory and for all other indications. The European Medicines Agency has accepted the marketing authorization application for Cometriq. Under the agreement, Exelixis will be responsible for regulatory approvals and Sobi will be promote, market, and sell the drug. Exelixis will make payments to Sobi including fixed fees and potential performance-based milestones related to commercialization. Exelixis may terminate the agreement at will with payment of pre-determined fees.

• Medivir AB, of Huddinge, Sweden, said that its partner Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., part of Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J., submitted a regulatory application to the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare for simeprevir in genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C. The drug is an NS3/4A protease inhibitor, and would be administered with pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) and ribavirin for patients who are treatment-naïve, prior nonresponders, or relapsed after Peg-IFN with or without RBV. The filing triggered a milestone payment of €5 million (US$6.6 million).

• Shimojani LLC, of San Francisco, licensed an invention from Nigata University that it said has potential to substantially reduce the risk of hemorrhage in acute ischemic stroke patients, including those who receive tissue plasminogen activator. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

• Vivus Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., said that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) confirmed its Oct. 18, 2012, decision to decline the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Qsiva (phentermine/topiramate ER) for the treatment of obesity in the European Union. The company had requested a re-examination of the opinion. After considering the grounds for this request, CHMP again declined the marketing authorization on Feb. 21. In its consideration of the Qsiva MAA, CHMP indicated that a pre-approval cardiovascular outcomes trial would be necessary to establish long-term safety.