• Merck and Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., said that in a Phase III study, its vaccine for human papilloma virus (HPV), V503, prevented 97 percent of cervical, vaginal and vulvar pre-cancers caused by HPV types 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58.

LONDON – Polyphor Ltd. is in line for a potential CHF465 million (US$510.6 million) in up-front and milestone payments after outlicensing its antibiotic program POL7080 to Roche AG, in a deal hinting that the various government and regulatory initiatives to promote the development of treatments for drug-resistant infections are rekindling pharma interest in the field.

With Gilead Sciences Inc. barely a month away from a possible history-making FDA approval of an all-oral regimen for hepatitis C virus (HCV), the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) meeting in Washington put the spotlight on other HCV contenders over the weekend, with much of the buzz focused on a protease inhibitor/NS5A inhibitor combination from Merck & Co. Inc.

LONDON – Geneuro SA announced positive results from the Phase IIa trial of GNbAC1, a first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting an endogenous retroviral protein identified as involved in the onset and development of multiple sclerosis (MS), with the drug showing a very good safety profile and nine of 10 patients having stable disease, as assessed by MRI brain scans.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and subsidiaries Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Scios Inc. will pay $2.2 billion to the U.S. government and 45 states to resolve criminal and civil claims in multiple settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and 45 states.

VIENNA – Whisper it softly, but a degree of optimism may be returning to European biotechnology. Europe being Europe, it remains tentative and hedged with multiple qualifications.

LONDON – Argen-x BV has raised €5 million (US$6.8 million) as an extension to its $37.1 million Series B financing round, allowing the company to accelerate a third antibody fragment program, ARGX-113, into clinical development.

• Anavex Life Sciences Corp., of New York, said a report has been published in Neuropsychopharmacology demonstrating that Anavex 2-73 dose-dependently blocks Tau and amyloid-beta proteins and memory deficit in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

• Cevec Pharmaceuticals GmbH, of Cologne, Germany, said a Dutch consortium led by TNO and including biopharma firm Alloksys Life Sciences BV, of Utrecht, the Netherlands, reported the safe completion of a Phase I study of recombinant human alkaline phosphatase (hRESCAP) derived from Cevec’s CAP cells, immortalized suspension cells for stable protein production.