Failed biotech Viragen Inc. might have called it quits in 2007, but its monoclonal antibody targeting CD55 was reborn in start-up Genesis Biopharma Inc., which licensed the CD55-related assets earlier this year and plans to move forward with testing in both solid tumors and blood cancers.
Though still a fairly new entrant to the metabolic disease space, courtesy of its July acquisition of DeveloGen AG, Evotec AG managed to ink an early stage partnership for a biologic beta cell regeneration program with AstraZeneca plc subsidiary MedImmune for up to €259 million (US$345.2 million).
Shares of Capstone Therapeutics were walloped after data from Phase IIa pilot trials testing antifibrotic peptide AZX100 in keloid scarring fell short of showing statistical significance, but company executives maintained that the drug warrants further development.
Coming off a good showing at the American Society of Hematology meeting in Orlando, Fla., where its JAK inhibitor CYT387 impressed in myelofibrosis, YM BioSciences Inc. is padding its coffers with a $40 million public offering.
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc.'s iron-based phosphate binder Zerenex (ferric citrate) met the primary and key secondary endpoints in a short-term Phase III trial in hyperphosphatemia in dialysis patients, results that bode well for the ongoing long-term study as well as for the drug's potential in the $1.5 billion phosphate binder market. (BioWorld Today)
