Zalicus Inc.'s shares gained ground the day after second-quarter earnings rolled out, as investors reawakened to the potential of Z160, the firm's Phase II oral, N-type calcium channel blocker for chronic pain.

Skittish investors seemed more worried than analysts about word from Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. and Viropharma Inc. that the Phase II study will be discontinued with subcutaneous Cinryze (C1 esterase inhibitor with recombinant hyaluronidase [rHuPH20]) for hereditary angioedema (HAE) because of high levels of non-neutralizing antibodies.

Pipeline-scanty Astrazeneca plc wagered big on Fibrogen Inc.'s late-stage FG-4592, the oral prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor for anemia, forking over $350 million up front and another potential $450 million in milestone payments.

Investors scratched their heads, but thet didn't seem to worry over-much about the halting of the monotherapy arm of a Phase II/III, Cardiff University-sponsored trial with vosaroxin, Sunesis Pharmaceutical Inc.'s quinolone derivative for acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

While they are waiting for data from the non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) program with Synta Pharmaceutical Corp.'s heat-shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitor ganetespib, investors got a nice surprise from the Phase II effort in locally advanced or metastatic HER2-positive or triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s $100 million up-front deal with Celgene Corp. for selective histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors includes an option to take over the company for at least $500 million more, in an agreement that includes milestone payments of as much as $1.1 billion: $250 million for regulatory goals, and $850 million for hitting sales targets.

Onconova Therapeutics Inc. priced its shares higher than expected in an initial public offering (IPO), and Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc., also pricing, rolled out 1 million more shares than originally targeted, to settle in the midrange of the targeted cost per share.

In Wall Street's view, the outcome of another meeting between the FDA and Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. apparently did not bring enough about the path to a new drug application (NDA) filing for eteplirsen, the exon-skipping therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

While investors wait for key data from a Phase II trial with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s HER2 signaling inhibitor MM-121 in breast, ovarian and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the company began a Phase II trial with its bispecific antibody, MM-111, which targets the HER2 and HER3 receptors, for advanced gastric, esophageal and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers.

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. followed up its earnings tally with word that the first patient has joined the 1 ,800-patient Phase III program called ASCENT with bevenopran, previously known as CB-5945, a peripherally active mu opioid receptor antagonist for chronic noncancer pain and opioid-induced constipation.