HONG KONG – Swiss multinational Novartis AG's South Korean unit is facing further scrutiny after being charged with illegal rebates in February. South Korean prosecutors indicted a former chief executive of Novartis South Korea, Moon Hak-Sun, along with five other former and current company managers over allegations that they illegally paid doctors KRW2.6 billion (US$2.3 million) in return for prescribing the company's drugs to patients over the span of five years, from 2011 to January this year. Read More
Yale University spinout Kleo Pharmaceuticals Inc. raised a series A to fund development of its antibody recruiting molecules, or ARMs, and synthetic antibody mimics, or SyAMs, developed in the lab of Yale researcher David Spiegel, who founded the New Haven, Conn.-based company last year. Kleo principals were mum on the amount of the round, but the sole investor was Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd., also of New Haven, which holds other intellectual property (IP) from Yale and was said to take a "substantial" equity stake in the newco. Read More
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Commerce has issued a report alleging that patent examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) have abused their time-off privileges to such a degree that it has affected the backlog of patents. One of the more troubling aspects of the OIG report, however, is that the purported abuse could account for twice as many hours of clock time as described in the report. Read More
The long-term use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) raises serotonin levels in the brain enough to deactivate signaling pathways that increase bone formation, providing the solution to a long-term riddle – why SSRIs, which increase the availability of serotonin in the brain, increase fracture risk even though brain serotonin signaling increases bone formation. Read More
Cocrystal Pharma Inc., of Tucker, Ga., closed on proceeds of about $4 million in a private placement offering of about 9.7 million shares at 41 cents each. Read More
Respirerx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Glen Rock, N.J., moved ahead with a 1-for-325 reverse stock split following stockholder approval of the move at special meeting held on Aug. 26. Read More
Orexo AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, said the REZOLV retrospective study with its Zubsolv (buprenorphine and naloxone) for opioid dependence has been completed as planned in August. Read More
Caloric restriction led to the browning of white fat via immune-mediated signaling, and that may be a common feature of conditions of negative energy balance, where energy expenditure is greater than energy uptake. Read More
