• CellAct Pharma GmbH, of Dortmund, Germany, said its topoisomerase inhibitor CAP7.1 showed promising safety and tolerability in heavily pretreated solid tumors. The compound also demonstrated signs of efficacy in most treated patients, suggesting longer overall survival in lung, hypopharnyx, ovarian, testicular, stomach, esophageal, biliary tract and neuroendocrine tumors.

Shares in Clavis Pharma ASA (OSLO:CLAVIS) plummeted by more than 87 percent Monday following the failure of CO-101 (CP-4126) to demonstrate any impact on survival in a pivotal Phase II trial in metastatic pancreatic cancer.

LONDON – It will be possible to unravel the causative mechanisms of many diseases that have been the subject of genomewide association studies by carrying out genetic investigations in mice, researchers in Scandinavia suggested.

LONDON – Four Pfizer Inc. scientists and executives have formed a new company specializing in inflammatory and allergic diseases around assets deemed surplus to requirements following the closure of the U.S. pharma company's UK R&D center in Sandwich, Kent.

Twenty-two UK life sciences companies and a further 10 academic groups will share £39 million (US$62.3 million) in research funding in the largest grant allocation that the Biomedical Catalyst scheme has made to date.

A recent decision by the Irish government to abolish the independent office of the Chief Scientific Adviser and to amalgamate the role with that of the director general (DG) of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has elicited a curious mix of protest and silence.

With safety and efficacy endpoints met last week in the Phase III trial testing Biogen Idec Inc.'s long-lasting rFVIIIFc (recombinant Factor VIII Fc fusion protein) for hemophilia A, investors were scrutinizing the candidate's odds in a market led by Advate, the serum-free, recombinant Factor VIII therapy from Baxter Healthcare Corp.

• Compugen Ltd., of Tel Aviv, Israel, reported the discovery and initial validation of two additional cancer targets for its monoclonal antibody therapy.

French diagnostics firm Skuldtech SAS has emerged as the company behind a phenotypic biomarker that offers a simple predictive indication of which pancreatic cancer patients will benefit from an investigational tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) currently under regulatory review in Europe.

LONDON – Glybera formally became the first gene therapy to be approved in a regulated market, as the European Commission gave the rubber stamp to the treatment for the ultra-rare inherited disorder lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPL) on Friday.