Investors were pleased Thursday with Human Genome Sciences Inc.'s news that it had submitted its much-anticipated biologics license application (BLA) to the FDA for Benlysta (belimumab) as a treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), pushing shares of the firm up 8.2 percent. (BioWorld Today)

Privately held biotech TransTech Pharma Inc. stands to gain more than $1.1 billion in a new partnership with Forest Laboratories Inc. to develop and commercialize a new class of glucose-lowering agents, known as functionally liver-selective glucokinase activators (GKAs), to treat diabetes. (BioWorld Today)