BOSTON – Recent advances in the tools and technology for drug discovery mean it now takes minutes and days to accomplish tasks that previously took months and weeks.

LONDON – One of the UK's oldest biotech companies looks to be on its way out after reporting the failure of the lead program in Parkinson's disease.

Matthias Wymann, the Swiss scientist who discovered the first phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor, is co-founder of a new cancer drug discovery start-up, Piqur Therapeutics AG, which recently completed a seed financing round that will enable it take forward a pipeline of next-generation kinase inhibitors.

Biogen Idec Inc.'s move to buy all rights from Elan Corp. plc to the blockbuster multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy Tysabri (natalizumab) didn't take long for analysts to applaud, though Wall Street traders spent time digesting the $3.25 billion deal, which includes contingent payments.

• Flamel Technologies SA, of Lyon, France, completed a $15 million debt financing with Deerfield Management Co., a current Flamel shareholder. That financing will allow the company to continue its investment in research and development projects.

e-Therapeutics plc is copper-bottoming its future, raising £40 million (US$62.66) in a share issue which, added to existing resources of £8 million, will fund the network pharmacology specialist until 2017.

With the discovery of 24 new genes that are linked to myopia, or short-sightedness, most of the hereditary causes of this condition are now known, researchers contend.

Medgenics Inc. reached the higher end of its ambitions in an issue of stocks and warrants, raising $30 million to provide funding for further clinical development of its Biopump protein drug implant technology.

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) officially launched the European Lead Factory, a €196 million (US$266 million) project in which seven pharma companies will make at least 300,000 compounds available for screening via an open platform.

The drug development graveyard that is Alzheimer's disease has claimed yet another victim. This time it's AC Immune SA's ACI-91, a drug that had offered a new approach to tackling this most intractable of diseases.