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.

In one of Switzerland's – and Europe's – largest biotech private equity deals for some time, Auris Medical AG landed CHF47.1 million (US$50.8 million) in a Series C funding from the two Sofinnovas, Sofinnova Ventures and Sofinnova Partners, to take forward its two lead drug candidates, AM-101 and AM-111, in acute tinnitus and acute inner ear hearing loss, respectively.

LONDON – Scientists are close to identifying new genes that may be linked to several eye diseases in humans, many of which cause blindness. The researchers are being guided by genes they have found in mice that, when absent, cause similar defects to those occurring in the eyes of humans who are affected by conditions such as one type of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

S-TARget therapeutics GmbH, an Austrian start-up developing therapeutic vaccines for allergies, aims to close a €6 million (US$7.8 million) Series A funding round in the coming months.

MedDay raised €8 million (US$10.5 million) to take forward three drug development programs, two of which already have yielded promising data in small-scale human trials, in progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and in treatment-resistant forms of psychotic illness.