LONDON – Ethris GmbH sealed a five-year agreement with Astrazeneca plc and its Medimmune biologics subsidiary for the discovery of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics for treating pulmonary diseases.

While President Donald Trump's signature on the FDA Reauthorization Act (FDARA) Friday put to rest any lingering fears about potential layoffs at the FDA come Oct. 1, it also paved the way for the next congressional showdown – one that could still shutter parts of the FDA and other federal agencies.

Productos Medix S.A. de C.V., a Mexican weight loss specialist leading the most advanced effort to date to get Danish drug developer Saniona AB's first product to market, started a phase III trial of the drug, tesofensine, in obesity. The Medix-funded study is due to finish within two years and could potentially support approval of the triple monoamine reuptake inhibitor as a monotherapy in Mexico, where it's estimated that more than 70 percent of people are overweight and more than 30 percent are clinically obese.

The latest study by the Functional Annotation of the Mammalian genome (FANTOM) group, an international consortium led by Japan's RIKEN Institute, has compiled the first extensive atlas of microRNA expression in human primary cells, which could help development of new cancer treatments.

NEW DELHI – India launched its first formal industry-academia mission to ramp up its biopharma development by promoting entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing to transform the country into a global hub for cutting-edge biotechnology R&D.

Coherus Biosciences Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., said it plans to raise up to $150 million from Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore, in a two-tranche private placement.

Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said the FDA granted orphan drug designation to SY-1425 to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Alkahest Inc., of San Carlos, Calif., appointed Helen Jenkins chief operating officer.

Having promised to let Cardiome Pharma Corp. know about its NDA resubmission before the end of September, the FDA surprised the company by responding a month ahead, declaring the data package proposed for Brinavess (vernakalant hydrochloride) insufficient.

Medivir AB, of Stockholm, licensed the exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize its nucleotide polymerase inhibitor for hepatitis C, MIV-802, in Greater China to Ascletis Inc., of Hangzhou, China.