In a conference call last week, Amarin Corp. plc CEO Joe Zakrzewski insisted that it would be "a mistake" to assume that the company's decision to launch Vascepa (icosapent ethyl) on its own through the use of a $100 million debt instrument meant that it had abandoned its search for a partner for the fish oil-based product it is developing for the cardiovascular disease market.

Derma Sciences Inc. priced an underwritten public offering of 3.062 million shares of common stock at $10.34 per share, for net proceeds of about $29.3 million to support continued development of its candidate for diabetic foot ulcers, DSC127.

Moderna Therapeutics emerged from stealth mode with a $40 million financing led by Flagship Ventures and a consortium of private investors. Moderna is developing a platform technology for delivery of messenger RNA (mRNA) to stimulate production of therapeutic proteins in the cells.

Shares of Geron Corp. fell 23 percent Tuesday on news that the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company discontinued development of its brain cancer drug GRN1005.

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals Inc. walked back from its proposed initial public offering (IPO) filed almost exactly a year ago, arranging instead for a $67.5 million Series 2 preferred stock financing led by a new investor, Vatera Healthcare Partners.

Medical technology firm Smith & Nephew plc, of London, picked up Fort Worth, Texas-based cell therapy company Healthpoint Biotherapeutics for $782 million in cash. Healthpoint markets Collagenase Santyl ointment, and has a cell therapy product, HP802-247, in Phase III testing for wound healing.

Arno Therapeutics Inc., of Flemington, N.J., closed a $12.7 million private placement of convertible debentures to support research and development of oncology drugs onapristone and AR-42.

There's a special place in the lore of biotechnology for the scientist-entrepreneur who starts a company in his basement.

According to the SEC, an insider trading ring based out of Celgene Corp., Sanofi SA and Stryker Corp. was counting on a lack of resources for enforcement at the agency to evade discovery. Those hopes were dashed Monday.

Shares of Tranzyme Pharma Inc. plunged on release of top-line results from the first of two Phase IIb trials of its gastroparesis candidate, TZP-102, showing that it did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint at either tested dose.