The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) will have a lot to consider this week in three days of back-to-back meetings in which it will be asked to weigh in on four different biologic candidates.

LONDON – G20 leaders meeting in Hamburg, Germany, announced the formation of a global body to oversee the discovery and development of new antimicrobial drugs.

The next chapter in the tale of Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp. is all about “something strategic,” David Southwell, president and CEO, said after the phase II fixed-dose combination (FDC) trial of lead candidate trabodenoson and standard-of-care therapy latanoprost failed to move the needle in treating glaucoma.

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tustin, Calif., said a previously approved 1-for-7 reverse split of its outstanding shares of common stock took effect Friday, July 7, and will begin trading on Nasdaq Monday, July 10, on a split-adjusted basis under the existing trading symbol PPHM.

Nanotherapeutics Inc., of Alachua, Fla., appointed Peter H. Khoury president and CEO.

Alk-Abello A/S, of Horsholm, Denmark, released further analysis of data from its landmark five-year Grazax asthma prevention (GAP) trial in children. The analysis, which appears online in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, shows that the benefits of Grazax in prevention of asthma symptoms were even more pronounced when treatment was initiated at an earlier age.

By screening for glioblastoma targets in vivo using mouse models with patient-derived xenografts, researchers have identified new potential targets for drugs to treat glioblastoma.

Zealand Pharma A/S, of Glostrup, Denmark, filed with the SEC to raise up to $86 million in a U.S. IPO. The number of American depositary shares and share price have not yet been disclosed.

Emmaus Medical Inc.'s pharmaceutical-grade L-glutamine cleared the FDA on its July 7 PDUFA date, becoming the first new treatment for sickle cell disease (SCD) in the U.S. since chemotherapeutic agent hydroxyurea gained approval in 1998, and the first treatment indicated for pediatric patients.

An international research collaboration has found a means to improve the effect of mimetics of the second mitochondrial-derived activator of caspase (Smac), a novel class of targeted cancer drugs that act by inducing apoptotic cancer cell death and inhibiting pro-survival signaling.