News of Celladon Corp.'s possible liquidation after the CUPID2 phase IIb failure in April of gene therapy candidate Mydicar for heart failure (HF) may have sent shivers through the gene therapy sector, but progress ought to provide a heartening counterbalance as researchers continue to refine their methods. Read More
DUBLIN – After a long and sometimes perilous review process, Santhera Pharmaceutical Holding AG has finally gotten Raxone (idebenone) across the line. Read More
LONDON – Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. has scored a double success with simultaneous European approval of two orphan drug enzyme replacement therapies. Read More
Just six months after completing an upsized $203.6 million follow-on offering in January, Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc. is seeking an additional $200 million in a new offering of about 4.5 million shares (NASDAQ:ALDR) to back development and testing of ALD403, a calcitonin gene-related peptide blocker it's developing for migraine prevention. Read More
HONG KONG – An extract of a mushroom used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) reduces obesity in mice by altering the composition of the gut microbiota, suggesting it may prove useful for treating obesity and associated disorders in humans, according to a Taiwan study reported in the June 23, 2015, edition of Nature Communications. Read More
Etubics Corp., a Seattle-based company developing targeted immunotherapies and vaccines, has gained fresh support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in its efforts to advance a multitargeted carcinoma immunotherapy. Read More
Seres Therapeutics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., priced a $133.7 million IPO. The microbiome-focused company plans to sell about 7.4 million shares at $18 each to support development of SER-109 for the prevention of further recurrences of Clostridium difficile infection, as well as work on other drug candidates. Read More
Merck & Co. Inc., of Kenilworth, N.J., said the European Commission approved Simponi (golimumab) to treat adults with severe, active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis following a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use last month. Read More
Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, started a phase II ulcerative colitis trial and is scheduled to initiate its phase II bullous pemphigoid trial on July 1. Read More
Scientists from the Danish Aarhus University have shown that people who had their vagus nerves severed were protected from developing Parkinson's disease. Read More
