Payday came right on time for NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. and recent acquirer Shire plc with FDA approval of Natpara, a recombinant human parathyroid hormone (PTH), as an adjunct to calcium and vitamin D to control hypocalcemia in patients with hypoparathyroidism.
After a delay of nearly five years, Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. dosed the first patient in a resumed phase II registration study of the radiotherapeutic Azedra (Ultratrace iobenguane I 131).
A stunning $792.6 million underwritten public offering from Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. generated considerable buzz on social media Thursday morning after the company disclosed the pricing of 8.5 million shares – upsized from 7.25 million in its preliminary prospectus – at $93.25 apiece.
President Barack Obama didn't exactly set the biopharma world on fire with the 2015 State of the Union address, devoting only three sentences to drug research and development. What he did say, however – that the federal government will launch "a new precision medicine initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes" – could add momentum to a flurry of dealmaking linking the use of biomarkers and genomic profiling to drug discovery and development.
SAN FRANCISCO – Intrexon Corp. and Ziopharm Oncology Inc. disclosed after Tuesday's market close that they will provide $50 million each in their common shares to MD Anderson Cancer Center as part of a broad exclusive licensing agreement to develop nonviral adoptive cellular cancer immunotherapies.
SAN FRANCISCO – Richard Pops was hardly a new face when he took the podium last week at the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. Minus a two-year absence that's not even mentioned in his company bio, Pops has been at the helm of Alkermes plc since 1991, when – fresh from an assignment managing biotech R&D partnering at Painewebber Development Corp. – he was quickly hailed as something of a biotech wunderkind.
SAN FRANCISCO – A week after disclosing the successful completion of an initial research goal and extending its partnership with Evotec AG, newco Padlock Therapeutics Inc. landed at the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference with its veteran CEO juggling "a full dance card" of partnering meetings.
SAN FRANCISCO – Roche AG left no moss growing under its feet at the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, disclosing a second large deal a day after paying $1.03 billion for a majority stake in genomics analysis firm Foundation Medicine Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO – In a transaction nearly eclipsed by the bevy of pharma and big biotech deals on the opening day of the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Oncore Biopharma Inc. agreed to merge with Canada's Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp., combining their expertise in hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapies.
SAN FRANCISCO – In another major deal on the opening day of the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference, Roche AG revealed that it is acquiring a majority ownership in Foundation Medicine Inc. (FMI) in a transaction valued at up to $1.05 billion.
