LONDON – As the summer break comes to an end, the industry in the UK is bracing itself for the outcome of government deliberations on establishing a value-based pricing system for drugs, with the Bioindustry Association (BIA) warning that investment in biotech could be put at risk.

SHANGHAI – Looking to lower costs and facilitate better health care outcomes, China is stepping up efforts to develop a regulatory framework and a market for biosimilars.

SHANGHAI – An unexpectedly strong second quarter has boosted investor interest in little-known Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a Beijing-based vaccine maker listed on Nasdaq.

• Athera Biotechnologies AB, of Stockholm, a Karolinska Development AB portfolio company, said it transferred rights to the recombinant Annexin A5 product to Medirista AB, also of Stockholm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

LONDON – Barring the dotting of a few i’s and crossing of a few t’s, the $250 million acquisition of Ceptaris Therapeutics Inc. by the Swiss biotech Actelion Ltd. is ready to go ahead, after Ceptaris announced FDA approval of its only product, Valchlor.

With lead hepatitis C virus (HCV) candidate simeprevir (TMC435) nearing the finish line and two nucleotide (nuc) polymerase inhibitor candidates for HCV in its pipeline, Medivir AB pulled the plug on its NS5A inhibitor program, citing lack of market demand, difficulty meeting its development timetable and the desire to reallocate in-house resources.

As far as targeting kinases goes, inhibition is the only game in town. But that is not because there's no need for activators.

LONDON – In the past year the lure of gene silencing as a route to address disease has prompted a revival in the field. But it remains the case that the difficulties of delivering RNA-based drugs continue to slow the pace of development and limit their use to the liver or tumor tissues, or to tissues where local administration is possible.

Shares in Immunicum AB surged more than 40 percent Monday on promising signals from a Phase I/II trial of its kidney cancer vaccine, Intuvax.

LONDON – Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) has put further flesh on its ambition to become a leader in electroceuticals – in which nanoscale devices will be used to modulate the body's neural circuits – with the announcement of a $50 million venture capital fund to back pioneers in the field.