LONDON – Agennix AG has reached the devastation point with the Phase III failure of its lead product talactoferrin in a 742-patient Phase III trial in lung cancer.
LONDON – A method of systematically screening a range of mutant mice for skeletal abnormalities has identified nine new genes that may be involved in human diseases such as osteoporosis and osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease).
LONDON – CompanDX Ltd., a UK bioinformatics start-up supported to date by academic grants and seed funding, has raised £3.9 million (US$6.1 million) of nondilutive funding in China, after failing to attract backing from domestic venture capital firms.
LONDON – The games are still in full swing, but one element of the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics will be to convert the anti-doping laboratory into a research institute specializing in phenomics.
• Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd., of Jerusalem, a subsidiary of BioTime Inc., received a grant of NIS5.04 million (US$1.33 million) from Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist for development of a cell-based therapeutic product for age-related macular degeneration.
LONDON – FKD Therapies Oy has secured the support of the leading urologic oncologists in the U.S. for the Phase II trial of Instiladrin, a gene therapy treatment for bladder cancer.
Alkermes plc posted its most impressive quarter so far since last fall's acquisition of Elan Corp. plc's drug delivery unit and relocation of its headquarters to Dublin, Ireland, reporting total revenues of $152.2 million, a 146 percent jump over the same three-month period in 2011.
If the FDA follows through on an advisory committee's recommendations, patients may finally have drug options to fight two conditions that can lead to permanent loss of vision.
• Antisense Pharma GmbH, of Regensburg, Germany said it has been granted orphan drug designation from the FDA for its oncology antisense compound trabedersen to treat malignant melanoma. Previously, trabedersen has received orphan drug designation by the European EMA and the FDA in high-grade glioma (malignant brain tumor) and in advanced pancreatic cancer.
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