Shares in Emisphere Technologies Inc. dropped sharply following the Cedar Knolls, N.J.-based firm's announcement that it was informed by partner Novartis Pharma AG that the first interpretable results of a second Phase III study of oral calcitonin in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee missed co-primary and secondary endpoints.

Oncobiologics Inc. is holding the official grand opening of its new 25,000 square-foot facility today. But things have already been moving pretty fast for the company in its first five months after launch.

Unither Virology LLC, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corp., won a potential $45 million contract from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for preclinical studies of an antiviral glycobiology drug candidate to treat viruses such as dengue and influenza.

The growth of Western diseases and the value attached by many Chinese to Western brands may provide opportunities to get a share of the China market.

Finding a partner in China is the single most important first step for Western biotechs that want to do business there and get a piece of the exploding pharmaceutical market, according to several authorities on starting up and doing business in China.

A series of high-profile deals involving Western multinational biopharmas and Indian biotechs has helped fuel the emergence of India as a global biotechnology player. And the upcoming BIO India International Conference, on Sept. 21 and 22 in Hyderabad, India, is an indication that the deals – and the expansion of India's biotech industry – may continue for a while.

What does a Western biotech need to do to get a piece of the rapidly growing Chinese market?

Ardelyx Inc. closed a $30 million Series B preferred stock financing that the company said will help fund completion by early 2012 of an ongoing 180-patient Phase II trial of lead candidate RDX5791 in patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C) and a dose-ranging/regimen study of RDX5791 for prevention of excess dietary sodium absorption to control hypertension.

Selecta Biosciences Inc. has scored its third significant collaboration in the past 12 months with a subcontract from Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), of McLean, Va., to develop a targeted synthetic vaccine particle (tSVP) product for malaria.