Over the past three years, pharmaceutical companies collectively jettisoned 150,000 jobs. Small wonder that the industry now finds itself facing an enormous talent gap in its scientific work force, according to a report released this week by PwC's Health Research Institute (HRI). Read More
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) officially launched the European Lead Factory, a €196 million (US$266 million) project in which seven pharma companies will make at least 300,000 compounds available for screening via an open platform. Read More
Shares of OxiGene Inc. bounced 14.8 percent Thursday on news that its Phase II study of Zybrestat and Avastin in ovarian cancer demonstrated acceptable tolerability in an interim toxicity analysis. Read More
• Flamel Technologies SA, of Lyon, France, completed a $15 million debt financing with Deerfield Management Co., a current Flamel shareholder. Read More
• Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cheshire, Conn., advised its stockholders to reject an unsolicited "mini-tender" offer by TRC Capital Corp. to purchase up to 1.5 million shares, or about 0.77 percent, of outstanding Alexion common stock at $90.50 per share. Read More
• Vaximm AG, of Basel, Switzerland, said top-line data from its Phase I/II dose-escalation study of oral cancer vaccine VXM01 met key safety and tolerability endpoints. The study, VXM01-01-DE, enrolled 45 patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer at the Heidelberg (Germany) University Hospital. Read More
• Ipsen SA, of Paris, and Braintree Laboratories Inc., of Braintree, Mass., said that Eziclen/Izinova (BLI-800) completed the European decentralized registration procedure, giving member states 30 days to decide whether to grant marketing authorization. Read More
• Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, halted its Phase III rheumatoid arthritis (RA) program for tabalumab, an anti-B cell activating factor monoclonal antibody, for lack of efficacy. The company said the tabalumab Phase III ILLUMINATE program in systemic lupus erythematosus is continuing. Read More
