Following calls to improve supervision over clinical trials, China has launched a new online registration platform that should help improve transparency and the quality of the growing number of trials done in the country.

• Biotie Therapies Corp., of Turku, Finland, said that its partner H. Lundbeck A/S, of Copenhagen, has brought Selincro (nalmefene) to the market in Italy, triggering a €2 million (US$1.9 million) milestone to Biotie.

LONDON – Ablynx NV notched up a second deal last week, announcing a collaboration with Merck Serono under which a dedicated discovery unit will be set up at Ablynx.

Shares in Prosensa Holding NV plunged 70.3 percent last Friday on news that its exon-skipping antisense drug drisapersen failed to meet the primary endpoint of a Phase III trial in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

LONDON – A protein that has a role in causing the most frequent form of inherited mental retardation has turned out to be a master regulator of a large group of molecules involved in cancer progression and metastasis.

Morphosys AG raised €84 million (US$114 million) in a private placement, adding another hefty chunk of change to what is already a robust balance sheet.

SHANGHAI – Two Chinese biopharmaceutical firms have been added to an ongoing corruption probe in China that has already expanded to cover several multinationals.

LONDON – Two years after halting development of bovine alkaline phosphatase, AM-Pharma is back in the clinic with its new recombinant human version of the anti-inflammatory enzyme.

A consortium led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has secured €11.5 million (US$15.4 million) in funding from the European Commission (EC) to build a comprehensive picture of microRNA (miRNA) biology in patients with epilepsy.

SHANGHAI – Beijing newcomer Canbridge Life Sciences Ltd. has partnered with emerging nanotech specialist Azaya Therapeutics Inc., of San Antonio, to develop non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment ATI-1123 in China and North Asia.