During last week's BIO International Convention in Washington, panelists in a business development session discussed whether biotech firms can count on scoring major dollars by licensing early stage – preclinical or Phase I – programs. Read More
Like many biotechs these days, Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc. is feeling the pinch as a big pharma partner shifts its pipeline priorities, leaving the future of Idera's lead TLR9 compound up in the air. Read More
Cancer genetics is a notoriously shifting ground. Having developed into a problem through mutations in the first place, cancer cells continue to mutate as the disease progresses. The most obvious problem from a clinical standpoint is that such mutations can render them resistant to therapy – a problem that plagues now-stalwarts like Gleevec (imatinib, Novartis AG) and new stars like Vemurafenib (PLX4032/RG7204, Plexxikon Inc./Roche AG) alike. Read More
Serious conditions attract serious attention. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a devastating form of cancer with a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Already, a raft of biotechs has thrown resources at the disease, but with more failure than success. Now, TORCell Therapeutics Inc., a biotech spun out of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) in Toronto, is taking aim at AML with a technology to boost a patient's own double-negative T cells (DNT) – a subpopulation of T lymphocytes that has potent anticancer properties, but comprises only 1 percent of a patient's peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Read More
Addex Pharmaceuticals SA is laying off around a quarter of its work force in order to conserve cash and focus its resources on priority projects. The company aims to realize around CHF8 million (US$9.5 million) in annual savings as a result of the measure, which will extend its cash runway by six to nine months, out to the end of 2013. Read More
The FDA has cleared Mesoblast Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, to begin a Phase III trial of its off-the-shelf mesenchymal precursor cells. The goal of the trial will be to reproduce positive results from a pilot trial at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In that study, the product was found to accelerate neutrophil and platelet recovery, with high 100-day patient survival and low rates of graft vs. host disease (GVHD). Read More
Clarus Therapeutics Inc., of Northbrook, Ill., withdrew its filing for an initial public offering, stating that the terms currently obtainable in the public marketplace are not sufficiently attractive. The specialty pharma firm had previously hoped to sell 5 million shares for $11 to $13 apiece. Read More
Inovio Biomedical Corp., of Blue Bell, Pa., expanded its license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, adding exclusive worldwide licenses for technology and intellectual property for DNA vaccines against pandemic influenza, Chikungunya and foot-and-mouth disease. Read More
Exelixis Inc., of South San Francisco, said that it will report results from its Phase III trial of cabozantinib in medullary cancer (EXAM) by about three months. That provides additional time to reach the prespecified number of progression-free survival events for unblinding. Read More
