Rebiotix Inc. has sprinted from concept to clinical application in less than two years in pursuit of treatment for gastrointestinal diseases, such as recurring Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), using the human microbiome – the collective genomes of the human microbiota.
Fibrocell Science Inc. went to the markets Thursday with an underwritten public offering of 11 million shares of common stock, priced at $4.10 apiece, seeking to generate $45.1 million. The price represented a hefty discount – 17.8 percent – to Wednesday’s closing price of $4.99 for Fibrocell’s shares (NYSE MKT:FCSC).
One day after disclosing an $840 million licensing deal with Ghent, Belgium-based Ablynx NV for nanobody technology to treat rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, Abbvie Inc. turned to another Belgian biotech – existing partner Galapagos NV – for a global alliance to discover, develop and commercialize potentiator and combination therapies in cystic fibrosis (CF).
Roughly a year ago, Stanford University professor Brian Kobilka was in the spotlight, participating in a press conference after winning the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Duke University’s Robert Lefkowitz, for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) – the target of some 50 percent of currently marketed drugs, according to background information on the prize cited by the Royal Swedish Academy.
The biotech world was stunned Friday morning when reports trickled out of San Diego that the former CEO of a failed biotech allegedly shot and wounded a former colleague and a brother-in-law in separate incidents before he was taken into custody by the San Diego Police Department.
Shares of Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. topped $80 Thursday morning, one day after hitting a previous 52-week high. Although the stock (NASDAQ:BMRN) lost some lift late in the day, closing up 90 cents at $78.39, the uptick still pushed the company’s market cap to $11 billion.
Shares of Australia’s Prima Biomed Ltd. were jolted Wednesday after top-line data from the company’s Phase II study of cancer vaccine candidate Cvac showed no observed difference in estimated median progression-free survival (PFS) compared to control in epithelial ovarian cancer patients in first or second remission.
Shares of Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ:DNDN) inched up after the European Commission granted marketing authorization in the European Union (EU) for Provenge (sipuleucel-T) in asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) in men for whom chemotherapy is not yet indicated.
Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc.’s largest shareholder, Italian pharma Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA, sweetened its original bid to purchase the specialty pharma’s remaining shares, settling on $9.50 each in cash.
Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc.’s largest shareholder, Italian pharma Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA, sweetened its original bid to purchase the specialty pharma’s remaining shares, settling on $9.50 each in cash.
