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In the clinic

Summit Therapeutics plc, of Oxford, U.K., reported interim data form a phase I trial testing a new, oral formulation of lead utrophin modulator SMT C1100 for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Read More

Skyepharma plc, of London, said partner Mundipharma International Corp. Ltd., of Singapore, received confirmation that its marketing authorization application for a breath-actuated version of flutiform was accepted for review in Europe. Mundipharma is seeking approval for treating asthma in adults and adolescents where the use of a combination product (inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting beta2 agonist) is appropriate. Read More

Financings

Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, said it closed separate, privately negotiated exchanges with eligible holders of its outstanding 7.5 percent convertible senior notes due 2019. Read More

Is U.S. prepared to test millions of pregnant women for Zika?

With mosquito season just weeks away across the U.S., worries about the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has been linked to serious birth defects, and the lack of effective diagnostics are ringing alarms in Congress. Read More

Start-up Medicortex taking on TBI in dual drug-biomarker approach

DUBLIN – Finnish start-up Medicortex Finland Oy is taking on one of the biggest challenges in medicine, the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), with a two-pronged strategy based on the identification and validation of a novel biomarker and on the development of a therapeutic that bundles several mechanisms of action into a single molecule. Read More

Glial scar helps axons grow after injury, new study says

Researchers reported data today that run counter to a major tenet of neural regeneration after injury, namely that the so-called glial scar inhibits axons from regrowing and reconnecting with their targets. Read More

Add pepper: Centrexion puts bite with bark in BI deal to gain pain assets

Centrexion Therapeutics Inc. CEO Jeffrey Kindler told BioWorld Today his firm owns “one of the largest pipelines, if not the largest, in non-addictive chronic pain treatment,” thanks to the acquisition of three oral analgesic prospects from Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (BI). Read More

Newron’s Parkinson’s drug draws an FDA request for more data

With an FDA complete response letter in hand, Italy’s Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA is on the hook for providing the agency with a clinical evaluation of the potential abuse liability and dependence or withdrawal effects of its Parkinson’s disease (PD) candidate, Xadago (safinamide). Read More