Privately held BIND Therapeutics Inc. didn't let the dust settle after a potential $180.5 million deal with Amgen Inc. in January. Wednesday morning, the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech revealed that Pfizer Inc. sealed an even bigger global collaboration to develop and commercialize multiple Accurins in small-molecule targeted therapies.

Privately held Revance Therapeutics Inc. raised $33 million in a Series E financing and converted $71 million in convertible debt into Series E preferred stock, aiming to complete U.S. Phase III trials for lead compound RT001, a physician-applied topical botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA), in the lead indication of lateral canthal lines, better known as crow's feet.

Just a year out of the gate and with less than $1 million in funding, Milo Biotechnology LLC already has an FDA-sanctioned investigational new drug (IND) application and is in human trials with follistatin, a protein that increases muscle strength and prevents atrophy.

Privately held Edison Pharmaceuticals Inc. wooed a big pharma partner, inking an R&D and commercialization agreement with Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. (DSP) to develop lead program EPI-743 and follow-on molecule EPI-589 in Japan.

Schizophrenia claimed another victim last week as shares of BioLineRx Ltd. plummeted after the company halted the Phase II/III CLARITY trial of BL-1020, its first-in-class, orally available GABA-enhanced antipsychotic and the lead program in the company's diverse pipeline.

With the cost of clinical trials climbing, the FDA is worried about its ability to obtain sufficient information to make determinations about safety and efficacy claims when examining new drug applications and biologics license applications.

Privately held gene therapy company bluebird bio soared to new heights in a discovery, development and commercialization deal with big biotech Celgene Corp. to use its technology to genetically modify a patient's own T cells to target and destroy cancer cells. The multiyear R&D collaboration has the potential to generate multiple products based on the modified cells, known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells.

Investors took notice as InSite Vision Inc. reported positive top-line findings from its first Phase III trial of BromSite (ISV-303) for the reduction of inflammation and pain following cataract surgery. The company said BromSite, which combines a low dose (0.075 percent) of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) bromfenac with InSite's DuraSite drug delivery technology, achieved statistically significant superiority compared to vehicle.

Shares of Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:PGNX) spiked Friday after the company reported that prescriptions of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) drug Relistor (methylnaltrexone bromide) increased by 90 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, growing by 137 percent for the full year compared to 2011.