The lineaments of Ireland's new science strategy are evident in its latest round of research funding, comprising €200 million (US$261 million) of public money, which will fund seven university-industry research centers over the next six years. Industry partners will add another €100 million through a mix of cash and in-kind contributions.

4SC AG could earn up to €96 million (US$125 million) in option and milestone payments arising out of a preclinical drug development deal in inflammatory skin disease with Leo Pharma A/S, as well as double-digit royalties on eventual product sales.

LONDON – Start-up BioMoti Ltd. secured its first private financing in a seed round of £150,000 (US$227,000) to advance its Oncojan platform technology, a microparticle carrier system combining targeted delivery of chemotherapy drugs with their controlled release within tumor cells.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Shares in Elan Corp. plc (NYSE:ELN) rose 5 percent to $11.14 Monday in response to an indicative $11 per-share takeover offer from Royalty Pharma.

LONDON – 2013 will be a watershed year for biosimilars – biological therapies designed to be similar to existing biological therapeutic agents – delegates attending the Second Biosimilars Congregation in London heard Tuesday.

Following pressure from a group of dissident shareholders, Diamyd Medical AB agreed to return most of its cash to its investors, while retaining a small amount to continue two Phase II trials of its GAD vaccine for the treatment and prevention of Type I diabetes.

The FDA accepted for review a new drug application for lixisenatide, the once-daily glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist Zealand Pharma A/S has developed in partnership with Sanofi SA, paving the way for a possible U.S. approval in Type II diabetes by early 2014.

BOSTON – Location, location, location: The idea that one gene equals one protein is long discredited and research into mechanisms including post-translational modification of proteins and the baroque complexities of epigenetic control is advancing understanding of how one gene can generate multiple proteins.

• Dompe Group, of Milan, Italy, said the first patient has been enrolled in a Phase I/II REPARO study evaluating the ophthalmological use of a topical solution of recombinant human nerve growth factor (rhNGF) for the treatment of moderate to severe neurotrophic keratitis (NK).

BOSTON – The rise in the number of new drug approvals granted by the FDA in the past three years looks encouraging – hinting as it does that the industry is putting the productivity woes of the previous decade behind it.