A major pipeline reprioritization at Sanofi-Aventis left Oxford BioMedica plc without a partner for its late-stage cancer vaccine TroVax, but the UK company made up for it by signing an earlier-stage deal with Sanofi to develop gene-based therapies for ocular diseases. (BioWorld Today)
Citing an unfavorable risk-benefit ratio, Pharmasset Inc. said it was dropping late-stage hepatitis B candidate clevudine and refocusing resources to its earlier-stage pipeline aimed at the increasingly crowded hepatitis C virus space. (BioWorld Today)
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," has long been the motto of die-hard biotech investors, who have continued funneling cash into troubled firms - sometimes even in the wake of disastrous clinical results - hoping that the next trial, or the next product will be the success story.
