ImmusanT Inc. is taking its Nexvax2 program for celiac disease to the next level, raising $20 million in a Series A from Vatera Healthcare Partners LLC to fund the immunotherapeutic vaccine and a companion diagnostic to proof of concept.
A year after landing a $450-million up-front deal with Abbott for its lead antioxidant inflammation modulator (AIM) bardoxolone methyl, Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. hit the rewind button, gaining another one-time $400 million license payment from the pharma giant to develop the rest of its second-generation AIM portfolio.
Findings from Genentech Inc.'s randomized Phase III CLEOPATRA study of pertuzumab in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer suggested the drug, in combination with Herceptin (trastuzumab) and docetaxel chemotherapy, provided a 38 percent improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared to Herceptin and docetaxel alone in previously untreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (mBC).
After an afternoon of vigorous debate, members of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) endorsed, by a 15-1 margin, the benefit/risk profile for peginesatide injection to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adult patients on dialysis.
Reaction was mixed on Monday when Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported two-year data suggesting that newly approved Eylea (aflibercept) injection in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) offered only modest benefit in a head-to-head comparison with market-leading VEGF inhibitor Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech Inc./Roche AG).
As expected, Celldex Therapeutics Inc. launched the randomized, double-blind, controlled Phase III trial of its cancer vaccine candidate rindopepimut (formerly CDX-110) in patients with surgically resected epidermal growth factor variant III (EGFRvIII)-positive glioblastoma.
Merck KGaA has returned global rights to IMO-2055, a TLR9 agonist, as a cancer therapy to partner Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc. following the termination of their oncology collaboration.
Oxigene Inc. showed flickers of life by signing a purchase agreement to sell up to $20 million of its common stock, from time to time, to Chicago-based institutional investor Lincoln Park Capital (LPC) Fund LLC.
Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals Inc. initiated patient enrollment in the second of two pivotal studies of the company's OBI-1 Accur8 Phase III hemophilia program.
ChanRx Corp., launched in 2006 as a spinoff from Cleveland-based pharmaceutical testing company ChanTest Corp., closed a Series A financing with investments from Sante Ventures, of Austin, Texas, and company founder and chairman Arthur "Buzz" Brown.
