Despite chatter on the Street Wednesday afternoon, the principals weren't talking after Reuters and other news outlets reported that Amgen Inc. sweetened its offer for Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. to $130 per share, up from $120 per share in the unsolicited bid in late June. Read More
SHANGHAI -–The travails of Zhejiang Hangzhou Xinfu Pharma, a small Chinese biotech firm that lost money several years running, are a clear warning to investors. Read More
Hoping to stanch the red ink spewing forth from the double-edge sword of the Bayh-Dole Act, several research universities are looking for better ways to triage the value of their faculty's scientific and technological discoveries. Read More
Three months after Shire plc pulled the plug on their potential $498 million collaboration, Acceleron Pharma Inc. has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) that aims for about $74.7 million, and has extracted from its continuing partner Celgene Corp. a promise to buy more shares in an undisclosed amount at the IPO price, if the deal goes through. Read More
Shares in Bavarian Nordic A/S gained 6.6 percent on news that the European Commission had formally approved its third-generation smallpox vaccine Imvanex, based on a modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vector. Read More
GIcare Pharma Inc. took the next step in developing a sedation-free, colonic analgesic in patients undergoing colonoscopy by launching a Phase IIa trial of GIC-1001. Read More
In today's issue of Nature, scientists reported whole-genome data of the HeLa cell line. The cell line is famous among scientists for the insights into biology it has enabled – and among the general public because the cells were taken without consent from Lacks or her family. The Lacks family did not become aware of the fact that Henrietta Lacks' cells were being used for research until decades after the fact. Read More
• Exelixis Inc., of South San Francisco, reported net product revenue for Cometriq (cabozantinib) totaling $4 million for the second quarter. The drug gained approval late last year for medullary thyroid cancer, though the company is looking to expand its use in larger indications, with Phase III studies ongoing in metastatic renal cell carcinoma and castration-resistant prostate cancer. Read More
• Cardium Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, inked a distribution agreement with Kasiak Holdings AG for the marketing and sale of its Excellagen wound care product in Germany and Switzerland. Kasiak Holdings is an affiliate of Kasiak Research, an operating unit of India-based Bharat Serums and Vaccines. Read More
• Cleveland Biolabs Inc., of Buffalo, N.Y., began enrolling in a Phase I trial of CBL0137, for metastatic or unresectable advanced solid cancers and lymphomas. Read More
• Scinopharm Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Taiwan, and Sundia Meditech Co. Ltd., of Shanghai, formed a strategic alliance to seek more opportunities for collaboration on contract research and manufacturing services in mainland China. Read More
