LONDON – Scientists have tracked the cause of a rare genetic condition that causes muscular weakness to a mutation affecting neurotransmission.

Europe's cash-starved biotechnology sector has another €240 million (US$312 million) to aim for, following Sofinnova Partners' successful closing of its seventh fund.

• Hatchtech Pty. Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, published data describing the mechanism of action of the active ingredient (Ha44) in its head lice product DeOvo.

More than a year on from a controversial opinion from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the patentability of innovations derived from embryonic stem cell (ESC) research, Germany's Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) has provided a final decision in the case, which leaves some scope for patent grants in that field.

A recent European licensing deal between Orphan Europe and Erytech Pharma SA on a novel formulation of asparaginase, called Graspa, is further evidence of the commercial revitalization of a long-established treatment in hematologic cancer.

LONDON – The good news is that the number of product approvals granted to the top 12 pharma companies increased by one-third in 2012.

The third spin-off from the entrepreneurship partnership program (EPP) launched in April by Merck KGaA biopharmaceutical division Merck Serono SA in conjunction with the closure of its Geneva headquarters, Asceneuron SA is focusing on one of biotech's most elusive targets: Alzheimer's disease (AD).

LONDON – Two major networks of genes and their encoded proteins, involved in lipid metabolism and inflammation, play an important role in determining a person's risk of developing coronary artery disease (CAD), a new study has found.

Eporgen Venture SpA, an Italian early stage venture capital fund with a diversified investor base, has logged the first major transaction of its portfolio, the licensing of a therapeutic cancer vaccine program, GX301, from Genovax srl to Mediolanum Farmaceutici SpA.

LONDON – The secretive backers of Cardiorentis Ltd. prefer to remain anonymous, but they obviously are expecting to see the name of the company's main asset, Ularitide, in lights, having made a €100 million (US$130.6 million) investment to put the product through a Phase III trial in treating 2,116 patients with acute heart failure.