• Eisai Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., said Fycompa (perampanel) for partial epilepsy, was approved for use in Scotland after a decision by the Scottish Medicines Consortium that cleared the compound as a second-line adjunctive treatment in patients with refractory partial-onset epilepsy. Fycompa was approved by the FDA in October.

• GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center entered a partnership to develop therapeutics to treat an inherited form of muscular dystrophy. The goal of the agreement is to develop a small-molecule-based medicine to potentially reverse facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy by inhibiting the activity of a protein that is incorrectly expressed by the DUX4 gene in people with the disease. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson, said the FDA approved a broader indication for oral, once-daily Zytiga (abiraterone acetate), expanding its use in combination with prednisone for earlier-stage treatment in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients before the use of chemotherapy. The previous approval indicated Zytiga only for men who had received prior chemotherapy containing docetaxel. (See BioWorld Today, April 29, 2011.)