• Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended granting marketing authorization to Sebivo (telbivudine), a once-a-day tablet for treating chronic hepatitis B infection in adult patients. A final decision from the European Commission is expected within three months. Telbivudine is approved in the U.S. and certain other countries under the name Tyzeka. The drug is partnered in co-promotion arrangements in the U.S. and Europe with Novartis Pharma AG, of Basel, Switzerland. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 27, 2006.)

• Third Point LLC, a New York-based investor in Hawthorne, N.Y.-based Acorda Therapeutics Inc., filed paperwork with the SEC calling on the Acorda board to begin a process to sell the company. On Sept 25, Acorda announced statistically significant results from a study of Fampridine-SR for walking improvement in multiple sclerosis patients. It shares appreciated from $2.22 on Sept. 22 to $22.61 on Feb. 21, Third Point said, adding that the drug now should be put into the hands of a larger company that could better get it to market and patients. Third Point, which owns 2.29 million Acorda shares, or 9.9 percent of the company, said Acorda should retain an investment bank to investigate the sale of the company, and forego the recently announced plan to partner Fampridine SR in Europe and market it itself in the U.S. Acorda later put out a release saying it continually evaluates ways to maximize shareholder value. Acorda's stock (NASDAQ:ACOR) gained $1.62 Friday to close at $24.17.