WASHINGTON – The weakness of President Obama's March 2009 executive order expanding federal funding for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research was evidenced Monday when a federal judge put the brakes on the policy, claiming it was illegal. (BioWorld Today)

BETHESDA, Md. – An FDA advisory panel Friday said it would be too risky to permit Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. to market its oral liquid sodium oxybate drug under two names in two different concentrations for separate indications due to the risk of dual prescribing leading to overdose, in addition to the medicine's already known potential for misuse and abuse. (BioWorld Today)

Privately held Quark Pharmaceuticals Inc. stands to bank $680 million, including $10 million up front, under a deal granting Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG an option to obtain an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize QPI-1002, an investigational p53 temporary inhibitor siRNA drug. (BioWorld Today)