XenoPort Inc. said its Japanese partner Astellas Pharma Inc. terminated a Phase II study of XP13512, a transported prodrug of gabapentin, in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) after an analysis showed it was unlikely the trial would reach statistical significance. (BioWorld Today)

With the Democrats taking the White House and making big gains in the House and Senate Tuesday, congressional oversight of medical product safety will shift from the FDA to industry, and drug and device makers should be prepared to be in the crosshairs, said John Manthei, global co-chair of the health care and life sciences practice at the Washington law firm Latham & Watkins LLP. (BioWorld Today)

GlaxoSmithKline plc made a bid to buy Redwood City, Calif.-based Genelabs Technologies Inc. for $1.30 per share, or about $57 million, in cash in a deal aimed at strengthening the London-based drug giant's product platform for hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapies. (BioWorld Today)

Shares of Lpath Inc. soared 31 percent Wednesday on the news that the San Diego-based firm signed a deal with Merck Serono, a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, to develop an anticancer antibody that could potentially garner $473 million for Lpath. (BioWorld Today)