• MorphoSys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, said it completed the sale of research and diagnostic antibody division AbD Serotec to Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., of Hercules, Calif., for about $70 million in cash.

Although Galapagos NV is best known for its whopper of an alliance with AbbVie Inc. for its JAK inhibitor, GLPG0634, the company's rapidly growing drug discovery services business is set to expand further in 2013, following the acquisition of Cangenix Ltd., a UK-based specialist in structure-based discovery, and the establishment of its Fidelta unit in Croatia as an externally focused services arm.

Undeterred by the recent string of high-profile failures in the field, Kareus Therapeutics SA moved its first-in-class drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease, KU-046, into a Phase I trial in healthy volunteers.

arGEN-X BV is making strides in the commercialization of its antibody platform, announcing an extension of its existing collaboration with Shire plc in rare diseases and at the same time advancing the lead in-house program into a Phase Ib first-in-man trial.

• CrystalGenomics Inc., of Seoul, South Korea, said it received a draft of the clinical study report from the recently completed Phase IIa study of CG400549, an antibiotic candidate for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

ISA Pharmaceuticals BV raised €8 million (US$10.5 million) in an internal financing round to fund a Phase II trial of its therapeutic vaccine for cervical cancer, ISA-HPV.

For a healthy pregnancy to have the best chance of surviving, the cells lining the uterus must undergo a short-lived burst of inflammatory activity about five days after ovulation, which must come to a halt 48 hours later, researchers have found. The discovery suggested new ways of treating women who suffer recurrent miscarriages.

Heptares Therapeutics Ltd. convinced another partner of the power of its G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) technology, sealing a deal with Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. around one – or possibly two – targets to be nominated by the quoted U.S. biotech.

After landing the all-important validation of a deal with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals in December, GlycoVaxyn AG is expecting to finalize an agreement to fund development of its lead in-house program and seal further collaborations around its conjugated vaccine technology platform in 2013.

More than 40 years after it was first proposed, a single European patent will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, after a compromise deal was endorsed last month.