AM-Pharma BV banked €29.2 million (US$39.8 million) in a Series D round, which, to its knowledge, is the biggest ever venture capital financing in Dutch biotechnology. The company will use the proceeds to effect a switch from a bovine to a recombinant form of alkaline phosphatase, which is in development for treatment of acute kidney injury. Read More
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. continues to plow the oncology space, exercising its option to invest another $19 million in privately held CureTech Ltd. and to finance up to $50 million of CureTech's research and development program. Read More
In what could prove to be a tricky balancing act, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is pulling out all its tools to enhance access to medicines in the Asia-Pacific region while at the same time supporting the innovation that leads to new drugs and medical breakthroughs. Read More
Thrasos Innovation Inc. kicked off a Phase I trial investigating the safety and tolerability of THR-184, an activator of specific receptors in the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) receptor pathway. The peptides are designed to help protect and repair acutely injured kidneys. Although acute kidney injury (AKI) is a source of significant morbidity and mortality following surgery – and a major frustration for physicians – there is no approved drug therapy for the condition. Read More
Prosensa Therapeutics BV and GlaxoSmithKline plc are moving forward with three additional exon-skipping antisense oligonucleotides as part of their alliance in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD). Read More
Edison Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., closed a Series E preferred financing to support U.S. and European trials of mitochondrial disease candidates EPI-A0001 and EPI-743. Terms of the financing were not disclosed. Read More
Aduro BioTech Inc., of Berkeley, Calif., has received three grants relating to its Listeria monocytogenes vaccine platform. The grants from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Institutes of Health will support development of vaccines for tularemia, hepatitis B and melanoma. Read More
ViroPharma Inc., of Exton, Pa., and Halozyme Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said ViroPharma started a Phase II study of a subcutaneous administration of Cinryze (C1 esterase inhibitor), in combination with Halozyme's Enhanze technology, in subjects with hereditary angioedema. Read More
