An alluring combination of platform and pipeline brought multiple would-be partners to Morphotek Inc.'s table before Eisai Co. Ltd. opted for an outright $325 million buyout. Nicholas Nicolaides, CEO of Exton, Pa.-based Morphotek, said he expects the merger to finish in four to six weeks, and Eisai, of Tokyo, plans to leave Morphotek intact as a free-standing concern, with no layoffs. (BioWorld Today)
In the wake of the Phase III Actimmune fizzle against idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) about two weeks ago, InterMune Inc.'s plan to get rid of half its staff to cut costs surprised almost no one, and investors still have chips on a late-stage compound for the same indication as well as - farther back in the pipeline - a therapy for hepatitis C virus. (BioWorld Today)
A glitch in the early stage research deep-sixed Maxygen Inc.'s pact with F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. for a next-generation Factor VII product, but their older agreement related to finding new compounds for hepatitis B and C viruses continues. (BioWorld Today)
Amgen Inc. headed off worse damage from Friday's news of the "black box" label warning for the firm's flagship red-blood cell boosters Aranesp and Epogen by pointing out that problems arise mainly in cases where the drugs are given at levels beyond those approved, and such cases rarely occur. (BioWorld Today)
