Ambit Biosciences Corp.'s potential $390 million deal with Astellas Pharma Inc. for FLT3 kinase inhibitors adds power to the push with oral small-molecule AC220, which just entered Phase II trials of the compound against acute myeloid leukemia in a patient subset that comprises about one-third of the newly diagnosed. (BioWorld Today)

"Change of control." It's one of those legal phrases in a contract that, when brought into play, can strike terror or joy into the heart of one side of a partnership or another who might have more casually agreed years earlier. The concept could take center stage for BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. in the firm's deal with Genzyme Corp. if Sanofi-Aventis SA goes ahead with a persistent bid to take over Cambridge, Mass.-based Genzyme Corp. – a bid that speculators predicted could turn hostile.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s surprising good fortune with the FDA's nod last week for the company's generic Lovenox sent shares skyrocketing 82 percent and capped five years of exchanges between the regulatory agency and Momenta with partner Sandoz, the generic unit of Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG. It also may have sent an ominous signal to Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc.