Lpath Inc. moved quickly to digest the disappointment that partner Pfizer Inc. plans to divest “a number of” its ophthalmology R&D assets, including its exclusive option for a global license to develop and commercialize Lpath’s wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) candidate Isonep. Scott Pancoast, Lpath’s president and CEO, said the path forward for Isonep is a choice between regaining rights to the compound, currently in a four-arm Phase II study, or having them reassigned to a third-party bidder – either of which offers potential upside.
Merus BV enticed Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. (JJDC) to join existing investors Novartis Venture Fund and Pfizer Venture Investments for a big pharma trifecta in a €31 million (US$42 million) extension to its Series B financing.
Eleison Pharmaceuticals LLC moved lead compound glufosfamide into a Phase III study in second-line pancreatic cancer, seeking to achieve success in a drug that was a near-miss in previous hands. The pivotal study is assessing whether glufosfamide improves survival compared to bolus 5-FU in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who progressed or failed therapy on a gemcitabine-based regimen.
The initial public offering (IPO) palooza continued into October with two more filings, including one by Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. seeking to raise up to $80 million. Karyopharm’s S-1 was filed just two months after the biotech closed a $19 million Series B extension that propelled its venture financing to $97.2 million.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. scored the first direct hit from its decades-long collaboration with Pfizer Inc. as the FDA approved Duavee (conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene) in a once-daily 0.45-mg/20-mg tablet form. The drug, formerly known as Aprela, is indicated for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms – commonly known as hot flashes – associated with menopause and for the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis.
Merus BV enticed Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. (JJDC) to join existing investors Novartis Venture Fund and Pfizer Venture Investments for a big pharma trifecta in a €31 million (US$42 million) extension to its Series B financing.
Capitalizing on the rising tide of investor enthusiasm for biopharma, investment firm Frazier Healthcare closed its seventh venture fund, surpassing its $300 million target by more than 25 percent with commitments of $377 million.
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).
In a move Merck & Co. Inc. chairman and CEO Kenneth C. Frazier took pains to explain as “creating greater efficiencies,” the pharma giant acceded to calls from analysts and investors to remake its R&D operation, disclosing the elimination of another 8,500 positions, in addition to previously reported reductions of 7,500 jobs, with a goal of paring annual operating expenses by approximately $2.5 billion by the end of 2015.
Little Lion Biotechnologies Inc., the surviving entity of a merger earlier this year with Genesis Biopharma Inc., reported promising long-term findings from a Phase II trial in Stage IV metastatic melanoma. The study was conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) using tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technology licensed by the company and in development under a five-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement that Genesis inked with the Institute in 2011.
