If the three initial public offerings to price late last week – Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Endocyte Inc. and BG Medicine Inc. – are a promising sign for the U.S. IPO market, then perhaps Italian biotech Philogen SpA's plans for a €65.3 million (US$89.6 million) offering on the Milan stock exchange is a signal the European markets are opening up as well.

Since it was founded in 2008, CureFAKtor Pharmaceuticals LLC remained under the radar until recent orphan designation for lead product CFAK-C4 in pancreatic cancer – not to mention some impressive preclinical data at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium last month – put the firm on the map.

Worries that generic vancomycin could cut into the market potential for Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) drug fidaxomicin have been eased somewhat, with Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. jumping on board in a potential $224 million regional deal.

A day after Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc. priced its $42 million initial public offering (IPO), two more life sciences companies followed: Oncology firm Endocyte Inc. priced 12.5 million shares at $6 each to raise $75 million while diagnostics company BG Medicine Inc. set a $7 price for 5 million shares to bring in $35 million. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 4, 2011.)

Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s $42 million initial public offering – the first biotech IPO out of the gate in 2011 – looks a lot like the pricings of 2010.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. launched a pivotal Phase III trial of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) GALNS (N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfatase), the drug widely considered to be a key growth driver for the Novato, Calif.-based biotech.

Shares of NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped 31.5 percent on positive Phase III data for GLP-2 analogue Gattex (teduglutide) in short bowel syndrome (SBS), and the Bedminster, N.J.-based firm expects to submit a new drug application in the second half of this year.

Depomed Inc. scored a major win with the FDA's approval late Friday of its once-daily tablet formulation of gabapentin, branded Gralise, in postherpetic neuralgia, sending the company's shares soaring more than 34.3 percent Monday.

One of the drugs Sanofi-Aventis SA had hoped would shore up its product pipeline ahead of patent expirations may be out of the picture, but that setback could have little impact in ongoing acquisition negotiations for Genzyme Corp.