Novo Nordisk A/S is the first taker for Kymab Ltd.'s second-generation transgenic mouse antibody platform Kymouse, providing all-important industry validation for the fledgling technology, as well license fees, development milestones and royalties on eventual product sales.

UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals plc set the terms for its proposed U.S. initial public offering (IPO), which would provide a listing on Nasdaq and nearly double its cash position ahead of the anticipated launch of lead cannabinoid product Sativex in the U.S.

ActoGeniX NV closed a Series B equity financing round, raising €€10.7 million (US$14 million) to move its ActoBiotics program to the investigational new drug application (IND) stage in a second indication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

DUBLIN, Ireland – Royalty Pharma upped the ante in its efforts to land Elan Corp. plc by raising its bid to $12 per share, an offer that values the Dublin, Ireland-based biotech at around $7.3 billion.

Santaris Pharma A/S is getting $10 million up front and could earn up to $90 million more in per-product milestones from a multiproduct drug discovery alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., based on its Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) antisense technology.

Photocure ASA claimed it has taken photodynamic therapy (PDT) "to a completely new level," as it published positive data from the final analysis of the 262-patient Phase IIb trial of Cervira in treating oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) infections and pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix.

Lipid Therapeutics GmbH aims to extend its pivotal program for its ulcerative colitis treatment LT-02 into the U.S., following an investigational new drug grant from the FDA that will enable it and its partner, Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH, to conduct a joint Phase III program on either side of the Atlantic. The plan depends on the company finding a U.S. partner, however.

• Innate Pharma SA, of Marseille, France, reported preclinical data for two of its programs. For its IPH33 program, it reported that humanized anti-TLR3 antibodies showed efficient blocking of TLR3 signaling with high potency.

LONDON – Immune Targeting Systems Ltd. (ITS) presented positive data on its universal influenza vaccine, Flunisyn, showing that it induced T-cell responses in 95 percent of subjects in an elderly population, ages 65 to 74, in a Phase IIa trial.

A new study has connected known differences in the metabolism typical of cancer cells to the pathway leading to apoptosis, or cell death. Researchers working in Finland have, for the first time, linked metabolic changes in cancer cells to the mechanism that, in normal cells, prevents abnormal cellular proliferation. The discovery is likely to encourage drug developers to consider whether existing drugs that modify cellular metabolism could be used in the future to treat cancer.