Shares in Paion AG plunged by more than 65 percent Friday on news that the company's clot-busting stroke drug Desmoteplase failed to attain the primary endpoint in a placebo-controlled Phase III clinical trial in acute ischemic stroke. (BioWorld Today)

About a week after AtheroGenics Inc. disclosed in SEC paperwork that the firm is saying goodbye to about half its work force, and slightly more than a month after partner AstraZeneca plc bailed out of a major deal for AGI-1067, the Phase III focus for that compound is shifting from atherosclerosis to diabetes. (BioWorld Today)