The contest to find a better migraine drug in the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) pathway had fallout for Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc. as the company unveiled what were called "strongly positive" phase III Promise 1 data – despite a hefty placebo response – with eptinezumab, its lead product candidate to prevent such headaches. Read More
LONDON – Biogeneration Ventures has exceeded the €50 million (US$56.7 million) target set for its third early stage fund, announcing a €66 million (US$74.9 million) close, with plans to push on to a final close of €75 million before the end of the year. Read More
DUBLIN – Mitoconix Bio Ltd., an Israeli startup commercializing science that emerged from Stanford University's School of Medicine, raised $20 million in series A funding to take forward a first-in-class inhibitor of mitochondrial division for treating Huntington's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Read More
Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Simon Pimstone said it's going to be hard to ultimately define the reason that the firm's sodium channel Nav1.7 inhibitor, TV-45070, failed to outperform placebo in a phase II postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) trial, but that "if the drug is not fully engaging the targets at the right sites, it doesn't really matter: there's not going to be an effect." Read More
SHANGHAI – Last week, a day before CPhI's China Pharma Week kicked off in Shanghai with thousands of foreign drug company reps in attendance, China's drug industry received some welcome news. The CFDA was accepted as a regulatory member to the International Council of Harmonization (ICH), an important step in China's ongoing journey to become a globally leading supplier and market for quality pharmaceuticals. Read More
Barry Cadden, the owner and head pharmacist of the New England Compounding Center (NECC), was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison in connection with the 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 55 people and sickened 740. Read More
Rana Therapeutics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., relaunched as Translate Bio Inc. The new name stems from the company's focus on pioneering the translation of RNA science into therapeutics promoting healthy gene expression for people living with debilitating genetic diseases. Read More
Sangamo Therapeutics Inc., of Richmond, Calif., said it closed its public offering of 10 million shares of common stock at $7.25 per share. Underwriters exercised their full overallotment option to purchase an additional 1.5 million shares. Gross proceeds from the offering of 11.5 million shares will be about $83.4 million. Read More
Neurovive Pharmaceutical AB, of Lund, Sweden, and Seoul, South Korea-based Yungjin Pharm Corp. Ltd. said a 60-subject phase I study of KL-1333 enrolled its first healthy volunteer. Read More
