Raising $12.6 million at the same time, MacroGenics Inc. acquired Eliance Biotechnology Inc. by way of an undisclosed equity exchange and entered a deal with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, which devised technology used by Eliance. (BioWorld Today)
Hardly had the House passed the Prescription Drug User Fee Act - clearing the way for the next day's approval by the Senate - than all eyes turned from PDUFA to Amevive, Biogen Inc.'s fusion protein for psoriasis. (BioWorld Financial Watch)
DepoMed Inc.'s Phase III once-daily diabetes drug Metformin GR netted the company a sweet licensing deal with Biovail Corp., in which the latter is buying 2.4 million newly issued DepoMed shares - 15 percent of the outstanding common shares - for $12.3 million and agreeing to pay $25 million if and when the continuous-release drug wins approval by the FDA. (BioWorld Today)
Although the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Orlando, Fla., which wrapped up last week, spewed much data and generated plenty of talk, the news wasn't all good for biotechnology firms, nor was it all bad. In a down market, however, the word "mixed" doesn't carry quite the cautious optimism it once did at least not for those with cash on the line. (BioWorld Financial Watch)
In the wake of mixed study results disclosed at a scientific meeting, the refusal of its partner to retool overseas research as a way of helping dislodge the FDA-stalled cancer drug Erbitux, and disappointing first-quarter earnings, ImClone Systems Inc. reportedly plans to run several more trials in the U.S. (BioWorld Today)
Girding for a marketplace battle in oncology, Amgen Inc. offered encouraging data regarding its anemia product Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), approved in September for dialysis and nondialysis patients with chronic liver failure and already being used off-label for cancer patients. (BioWorld Today)
