Development and regulatory challenges have prompted NeoRx Corp. to drop development of its lead cancer program, close a Texas manufacturing facility and reduce its work force by 40 percent, all in an effort to focus its resources on the chemotherapeutic agent Picoplatin. (BioWorld Today)
Getting a stronger foothold in the cardiovascular therapeutic area, Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc. paid $104 million in cash to Biovail Corp. for U.S. sales and marketing rights to Cardizem LA. (BioWorld Today)
Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. partnered its first preclinical program, doing so with Novartis AG to develop small-molecule drugs that target macrophage migration inhibitory factor.(BioWorld Today)
Taking a different approach with their metastatic colorectal cancer drug panitumumab, Amgen Inc. and Abgenix Inc. started another Phase III trial of the therapy, this time as a first-line treatment administered with bevacizumab and chemotherapy. (BioWorld Today)
In what could be the largest acquisition of 2005 - and certainly the largest so far - Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc has nabbed Transkaryotic Therapies Inc. in a deal worth $1.6 billion. (BioWorld International)
