Despite Monday's carnage on stock exchanges across the globe, OctoPlus NV posted a 13.6 percent rise in its share price on news that it could earn up to $149 million in up front, milestone and production-related payments from out-licensing its controlled-release formulation of alpha interferon, Locteron, to its co-development partner Biolex Therapeutics Inc. It also would receive royalties on product sales. (BioWorld International)

With a first European approval for its rheumatoid arthritis drug Lodotra imminent, Nitec Pharma AG raised CHF24 million (US$22 million) in a private equity round led by Munich, Germany-based TVM Capital. (BioWorld International)