SAN FRANCISCO – Phase II deal values surpassed Phase III in 2012, leading a senior biopharma analyst for Deloitte Recap LLC, to say "2012 was certainly the year of the Phase II" in her talk summarizing Deloitte's analysis of 1,692 deals closed in 2012 at the firm's Allicense Conference in San Francisco on Monday.

Biogen Idec Inc. reported total revenues of $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2013, a 10 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2012.

CHICAGO – Introducing a panel on new approaches to vaccine development at the BIO International Conference in Chicago, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. Chief Operating Officer Niranjan Sardesai quoted a well-known proverb, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime," to illustrate the difference between drugs and vaccines.

CHICAGO – While companion diagnostics have been an aspirational goal for the biotech industry for a number of years, the development pipeline has been held up by strategic and technical pitfalls.

Cerecor Inc. acquired rights to an NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartate) antagonist for development in the area of depression from Merck and Co. Inc. The drug, MK-0657, was initially in development at Merck for Parkinson's disease. Increasing evidence in the literature points to NMDA receptors as promising targets in treating depression, including well-known studies with ketamine, an NMDA antagonist.

The glass ceiling is shattered, and barriers to women's participation in the biotech industry have fallen at every level, including the highest.

Stock in Acorda Therapeutics Inc. jumped by more than 12 percent in early trading Monday on its announcement that a proof-of-concept trial showed Ampyra (dalfampridine) improved walking in people with post-stroke deficits such as impaired walking, motor and sensory function, and manual dexterity.

Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, will boost its development of plecanatide, a candidate for gastrointestinal disorders, with an offering of $90 million of common stock. Plecanatide has the potential to treat disorders like chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) and constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C).

In a Phase III trial, an ocular therapeutic product, EGP-437, being developed by EyeGate Pharma Inc., of Waltham, Mass., was noninferior to prednisolone acetate 1 percent ophthalmic suspension for anterior uveitis. EGP-437 comprises a formulation of dexamethasone delivered into the eye using an ocular iontophoresis device.