LPath Inc. saw its stock jump 38.7 percent Monday after unveiling a potentially lucrative option deal with Pfizer Inc. covering lead antibodies iSONEP for ophthalmology and ASONEP for cancer.
The long-standing relationship between drug developers and academia is changing, with big pharma seeking broader and more direct access to innovative research being done at universities. But as the captains of the drug industry cozy up to the ivory towers, it remains to be seen what role the venture capitalists and biotechs that have historically served as middle-men between these two parties will play.
Obesity's "big three" are top of mind these days, thanks to recent FDA panel rejections and upcoming FDA decision dates for Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Lorqess (lorcaserin) and Vivus Inc.'s Qnexa (phentermine/topiramate), as well as a pending panel for Orexigen Therapeutics Inc.'s Contrave (naltrexone SR/bupropion SR).
Anaphore Inc. is expected to announce Monday morning that it has snagged its first big pharma partnership for its Atrimer protein engineering platform, a deal with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. that could be worth up to $345 million.
Of the 260 posters and presentations offered up by Celgene Corp. researchers during this year's American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, the biggest buzz surrounded blockbuster multiple myeloma drug Revlimid's potential to expand from second-line into front-line and maintenance use.
After half a century with no new drug approvals and no clear regulatory pathway, the lupus field is finally seeing some progress. And the trial design that helped Human Genome Sciences Inc.'s lupus drug Benlysta (belimumab) achieve Phase III success and win an FDA advisory committee's support last week is already being emulated by up-and-comers in the field, some of which are applying their own spin.
