Repros Therapeutics Inc.'s CEO Joseph Podolski acknowledged the "nauseating" Wall Street ride for the company of late, but told investors during a conference call that "with time and continued progress, our share prices are going to move in the right direction."

Investors this morning will find out more about the fate of Aeterna Zentaris Inc.'s new drug application (NDA) for Macrilen (macimorelin), an oral ghrelin agonist for use as a diagnostic in evaluating adult growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) in the wake of a complete response letter (CRL) from U.S. regulators.

Following up a whopper deal with Biogen Idec Inc. about a year ago, Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. (PTI) nailed down a pact with Astellas Pharma Inc. that brings up-front cash, a securities investment and potentially $400 million in milestone payments, ultimately gaining as much as $1.2 billion if Astellas exercises options for two more projects under the same terms and they succeed fully.

Despite encouraging data shared earlier by Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp., a pair of phase III studies with NX-1207 for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), known as NX02-0017 and NX02-0018, failed to meet their primary endpoints in top-line results, and the company blamed a strong placebo response – stronger than was seen in previous experiments.

When Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Kynamro (mipomersen) was approved in January 2013 by the FDA for homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), the big question was whether the weekly injectable apolipoprotein B synthesis inhibitor could stand up against the daily pill from Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Juxtapid (lomitapide), a microsomal triglyceride transfer protein blocker for the same indication.

The $4 million investment by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Affinivax Inc.'s vaccine technology "provides us the opportunity and the runway to build out this platform and get additional points of validation, which will allow us to bring on potentially new funders, but also pharma partners," said CEO Steven Brugger.

Aileron Therapeutics Inc.'s wider series E round of $48 million came as a result of upped attention from investors, thanks to "work that's gone on during the last 10 months," said Joseph Yanchik, CEO of the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm, which is developing stapled-peptide technology.

Amgen Inc.'s moves into the biosimilar space drew attention during the company's business review meeting, which followed the release of investor-pleasing third quarter financial results that showed the company beating estimates and included higher guidance for the full year's earnings.

A candid conference call with investors by Pain Therapeutics Inc. CEO Remi Barbier didn't stop Wall Street from pummeling the company's shares after partner Pfizer Inc. made known that it's returning all rights to Remoxy, the long-acting, tamper-resistant form of oxycodone stalled at the FDA.

Mapper of gene-control pathways directly in human disease tissue, Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to use $53 million in series B cash to advance cancer programs toward the clinic and widen the gene-control product engine into new therapeutic areas.