The regulatory battle between two biotechnology heavyweights over multiple sclerosis treatments has ended, but the marketing war has just begun, with Serono SA gaining FDA approval of Rebif (interferon beta 1-a), which allows the firm to make an end run around competitor Biogen Inc.’s orphan drug status for Avonex (another form of interferon beta 1-a). (BioWorld Today)
The phrase "stem cells" can still bring a shudder to some investors, wisely shy about the riotous debate the field of research sparked last year between fervent camps of various persuasions some concerned more with religious and ethical matters than the advance of biotechnology. (BioWorld Financial Watch)
In the latest episode of an ongoing saga, ImClone Systems Inc. gained and lost in a retooling of what had been touted as a landmark potential $2 billion deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. for the FDA-stalled colorectal cancer drug Erbitux (cetuximab). (BioWorld Today)
More than two years after SuperGen Inc. said it “continued to enjoy a strong relationship” with partner Abbott Laboratories Inc., the pair’s worldwide sales and marketing collaboration valued at as much as $150 million has dissolved. (BioWorld Today)
NEW YORK - The nitty-gritty of strategy, partnering and navigating the FDA were among topics covered during the fourth annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference last week, where about 1,500 registrants crowded the meeting rooms of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to hear some of the industry's leaders talk about what worked for them, and what didn't. (BioWorld Financial Watch)
NEW YORK - Partners matter. But products matter more, and the one can be used to reach the other, said Donald Drakeman, president and CEO of Medarex Inc., the transgenic mouse company with “about four dozen” collaborators. (BioWorld Today)
