Any infection is a battle between the body and the immune system. Killing as many bacterial foot soldiers as possible is one way to help the body win this battle. But another possibility is to strip bacteria of their weapons in the fight without killing them outright – an approach termed non-bactericidal. Read More
Despite biopharmas' best efforts, around 40 percent of cases of drug-induced liver injury aren't discovered in preclinical studies. That stands in stark contrast to toxicity in hematological, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems, where only 10 percent to 20 percent of problems aren't caught in preclinical studies. Read More
Over the past five years, regulatory chaos in the antibiotics field has created a sort of solidarity between biotechs that would otherwise be competitors. Read More
Financings
Excelimmune Inc. raised $12 million from a private investor to support its infectious disease work.
Medicago Inc. closed the second tranche of a $21.8 million private placement.
Perosphere Inc. raised $1 million privately in initial funding for its drug delivery programs.
Radius Health Inc. closed the final tranche of its previously announced $91 million financing. Read More
"There will be a time when I recommend someone bringing an obesity product, but it's not going to be this decade."– Joshua Boger, retired founder and CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., talking about the increasing strictness of the FDA when it comes to risk-benefit analysis of drugs under review"If you do a deal with somebody and it doesn't go well, you always want to be nice because it's a really, really small world."– John Fisher, founder of Biopsy Sciences Inc. Read More
The House passed H.R. 2055, the 2012 omnibus spending bill, which included $576.5 million for the creation of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).The NIH is halting funding for new drug research involving chimpanzees after an Institute of Medicine report found "most current use of chimpanzees for biomedical research is unnecessary" in light of new technologies. Read More
Total Value in 2011: $8,451.1M*Number of Deals in 2011: 200Company (Location)Company (Location)Value (M)Type/Product AreaTerms/Details (Date)NOVEMBERAccess Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Dallas) Read More
Company (Location)Company (Location)Value (M)Type/Product AreaTerms/Details (Date)NOVEMBERAmgen Inc. (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)DaVita Inc. (Torrence, Calif.)ND Read More
Company (Location)Company (Location)Value (M)Type/Product AreaTerms/Details (Date)I. Modified AgreementsNOVEMBERExonHit SA (Paris)Allergan Inc. (Irvine, Calif.)ND Read More
