LONDON – The future development of a new class of antidepressants has edged closer, with the discovery of a molecular pathway that is fundamental to the development of depression.

LONDON – Symphogen A/S has taken in a further €41 million (US$54.1 million) as an extension to an earlier €100 million round agreed in 2011, bringing the total raised to $185 million.

• Intas Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., of Ahmedabad, India, launched Mabtas in India. The product is a biosimilar version of Rituximab (Roche AG and Biogen Idec Inc.) indicated in the treatment of diseases characterized by excessive numbers of B cells, overactive B cells or dysfunctional B cells, such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis.

LONDON – Galapagos NV has raised €53.9 million (US$70.7 million) in an oversubscribed placing in which it has tapped into the strong appetite U.S. investors currently have for biotechnology.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Two days after the board of Elan Corp. plc unanimously rejected Royalty Pharma's $7.3 billion takeover offer, CEO Kelly Martin set out, as best he could, the contours of the company's M&A strategy during a first-quarter results call with analysts last week.

• Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., of Haifa, Israel, said independent researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia, showed blood flow was maintained with no adverse hemodynamic effects following infusion of the company's placental eXpanded (PLX) cells in a human lung model of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

LONDON – A more detailed understanding of the workings of the membrane-bound pump that many bacteria use to eject antibiotics will, researchers hope, lead to ways of making bacteria once again susceptible to antibiotics that currently fail to kill them.

Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) Ltd. entered a target validation deal with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH that will offer near-term revenues, with the added prospect of long-term development milestones and product royalties.

Genticel SA raised €18.2 million (US$23.6 million) in a Series C round led by Wellington Partners, to move ProCervix, its bivalent therapeutic vaccine for combating human papillomavirus (HPV) infection into Phase II trials.

After struggling to maintain momentum and keep going during the capital markets crisis, Verona Pharma plc's recently appointed CEO, Jan-Anders Karlsson, has managed to line up the financing needed to shape the company's two lead programs for partnering.