• Bioasis Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said new research in animals conducted under its BT2111 program showed that the drug, a conjugate of Herceptin (trastuzumab, Roche AG), not only crosses the blood-brain barrier, but also penetrates the blood-tumor barrier up to 10 times better than Herceptin alone.

• Galectin Therapeutics Inc., of Norcross, Ga., said five of the eight patients have been enrolled and infused in the first cohort of its blinded Phase 1 trial of GR-MD-02 for patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH or fatty liver disease) with advanced fibrosis.

• Dendreon Corp., of Seattle, said it is implementing another round of cost-cutting measures following a third quarter earnings miss.

• Helsinn Group, of Lugano, Switzerland, said it granted Chugai Pharma Marketing Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, exclusive commercialization rights to Phase III-stage ghrelin receptor agonist, anamorelin, in Germany, France, Benelux, UK and Ireland.

The FDA altered its view of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s data with exon-skipping therapy eteplirsen for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) after Prosensa Holding NV’s failure with exon-skipper drisapersen for the condition, but Sarepta CEO Chris Garabedian hopes the agency can still be brought around.

China isn’t Asia. That’s certainly one take-away from the 2013 BIO Convention in China, or BIO China. The learning curve is steep for Western biopharmas seeking a toehold in Asia’s largest market, with 1 .4 billion people, and if companies accustomed to doing business in Japan and South Korea expect the same conditions in China, they’re doomed to disappointment.

Briefing documents released ahead of Thursday’s FDA advisory committee meeting regarding Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s therapy for non-24-hour disorder, tasimelteon, revealed an ongoing disconnect between the sponsor and agency regarding clinical endpoints for the disorder, whose symptoms can be difficult to pin down.

Recognizing that an initial public offering (IPO) isn’t the best route for all small companies in need of capital, the Equity Capital Formation Task Force is pushing the SEC to lift the barriers on Regulation A offerings immediately.

Scenesse (afamelanotide), which Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is developing for the rare light intolerance disorder erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), failed to hit the endpoint of a U.S. Phase III trial.