Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Roche AG have partnered to develop therapies for Huntington's disease using Isis antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology. The two companies will also work together to increase brain penetration of ASOs. Roche will pay $30 million up front to Isis, with milestone payments up to $362 million, including $80 million in commercial milestones.

A new collaboration between Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc. will focus on harnessing the therapeutic power of peptide drugs through a platform technology that offers candidates pre-designed for cell permeability and oral bioavailability.

Shares of Biogen Idec Inc. jumped more than 5 percent following an announcement late on Wednesday that the FDA approved Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). The drug was approved with a label in line with expectations with no black box warnings, just recommendations for baseline and annual white blood cell count monitoring. The greatest remaining question is pricing, which has not yet been announced, but which could affect how the drug performs upon entering in the market.

Aastrom Biosciences Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., made a wrenching decision to terminate its Phase III REVIVE trial in critical limb ischemia (CLI) and shift its focus to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Management cited challenges in enrolling patients for REVIVE and difficulty finding a partner in a reasonable time frame to improve the situation.

A synthetic capped royalty financing of $110 million will help Vivus Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., buy time while it awaits a decision on its risk evaluation and mitigation stragegy (REMS) modification amendment and a more opportune time for an equity financing.

Third Rock Ventures raised its third fund of $516 million, continuing with its mission to launch and invest in companies developing disruptive technologies in the field of health care. "We look for areas of science and translational medicine that have become ripe for a breakthrough fundamental advance," Third Rock partner Alexis Borisy told BioWorld Today.

The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human use issued opinions for eight drugs of interest to the biopharma sector, including thumbs up for multiple sclerosis (MS) drugs from Biogen Idec Inc. and Genzyme Corp.

Safety concerns were front and center at Thursday's meeting of the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) reviewing Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s application for Probuphine, an implantable device delivering a steady dose of buprenorphine for up to six months for opioid dependence.

NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. regained full worldwide rights to teduglutide (Gattex) and recombinant human parathyroid hormone 1-84 (PTH 1-84/Preotact) from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, in exchange for common stock valued at $50 million, plus a milestone payment of $30 million in cash or stock in the first year that net sales of both products exceed $750 million.

Briefing documents released ahead of a scheduled meeting March 21 of the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee sent shares of Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. plummeting 41.7 percent Tuesday.