MedImmune Inc.'s sale of all rights to CytoGam brings $50 million up front and another potential $70 million in milestone payments for programs more in line with its main focus. (BioWorld Today)
Merck & Co. Inc.'s plan to buy Sirna Therapeutics Inc. for $1.1 billion, despite two of Sirna's major programs tied to partnerships with other pharma firms, casts a shadow over the Merck deal with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., rival of Sirna in the RNA interference space. (BioWorld Today)
In a deal valued at $545 million, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. signed on with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV to develop and commercialize its hepatitis C virus protease inhibitor, VX-950. (BioWorld Today)
Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc. said GlaxoSmithKline plc, its worldwide partner for commercializing the Rotarix vaccine, won approval in the European Union for preventing gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus in children, and Avant is due $40 million when the drug is launched. (BioWorld Today)
Less than a day after Chiron Corp. announced its Liverpool manufacturing facility could again produce flu vaccine, Novartis AG offered $4.5 billion to acquire the company. (BioWorld Today)
Cephalon Inc. topped off a spate of mixed news with disclosure of its plan to buy Salmedix Inc. for about $160 million in cash, adding to the cancer drug pipeline while taking on $40 million in potential milestone payments related to Treanda, Salmedix's Phase II candidate for slowly progressing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. (BioWorld Today)
