Although efficacy below AstraZeneca plc's standard caused the pharma firm to give up rights to fostamatinib, the spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitor for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) met important endpoints, and Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. could find another partner and explore new diseases with it. Read More
German biotech received a badly needed boost this week with the news that GlaxoSmithKline plc was in-licensing MOR103, an antibody in clinical development in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS) at veteran antibody developer Morphosys AG, in return for an up-front payment of €22.5 million (US$29 million), plus another potential €423 million in milestones linked to its progress through clinical development, regulatory approval and sales. Read More
The president is getting gruff with patent trolls, using his executive powers to waylay their frivolous lawsuits and urging Congress to pass legislation that would make trolling far less appetizing. Read More
A bit more than a year after handing in positive results in a Phase II study for AKB-6548 in chronic kidney disease (CKD), Akebia Therapeutics Inc., of Cincinnati, secured a $41 million Series C financing to fund ongoing development of the drug. Read More
Shares of Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. stumbled Tuesday on word that the FDA placed a clinical hold on the U.S. Phase II study (IND 15038) of its allogeneic cell therapy in intermittent claudication (IC), a subset of peripheral artery disease (PAD), following a serious allergic reaction that required the patient's hospitalization. Read More
• BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc., of New York, received the third installment of a 2013 grant from Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist for $335,000. Read More
• KemPharm Inc., of North Liberty, Iowa, presented data at the International Conference on Opioids in Boston showing that the firm's pain drug candidate, KP201, has abuse-deterrent properties and has been shown to significantly limit narcotic exposure upon intranasal administration and intravenous injection. Read More
• Ambit Biosciences Corp., of San Diego, presented data from its Phase II ACE study of quizartinib (AC220), a FLT3 inhibitor, including data from 176 patients with either relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or AML that was refractory to second-line chemotherapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Read More
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of Princeton, N.J., and AstraZeneca plc, of London, said the FDA accepted for review and granted priority designation for the biologics license application for metreleptin in metabolic disorders associated with inherited or acquired lipodsytrophy. Read More
