The deep-pocketed brothers Thomas and Andreas Strüngmann have signed another big check, leading a €45 million (US$61 million) internal round in Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG to enable it to take forward its pipeline of “ideal” monoclonal antibodies (IMABs) in cancer indications. Read More
Aileron Therapeutics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., will leverage a new $30 million financing round to advance its lead oncology candidate into the clinic and continue development of its other pipeline products. Read More
Less than a week after Cell Therapeutics Inc. (CTI) snagged a handsome deal with Baxter International Inc. for its Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor pacritinib – adding another industry vote for the approach – Sanofi SA disclosed safety problems with its JAK inhibitor fedratinib and ended the Phase III effort, which sparked a new look at the class. Read More
Mission Therapeutics Ltd. landed £20 million (US$32 million) in second-round funding, evidence that some European investors still have a substantial appetite for preclinical biotechnology firms working in a cutting-edge area of science. Existing investors Sofinnova Partners, Imperial Innovations, S.R. One and Roche Venture Fund all followed their money, but the round also brought in another big pharma corporate venture arm, Pfizer Venture Investments. Read More
Chanrx Corp. moved a step closer to the goal line for lead candidate vanoxerine (GBR-12909), reporting Phase IIb data at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2013 Scientific Sessions suggesting the drug’s efficacy approached that of direct current (DC) cardioversion for patients with atrial fibrillation. Read More
LONDON – A genomewide association study has identified a new gene that may be responsible for some cases of asthma in childhood. Although many such studies link an increased risk of having a disease to a region of the genome, which may contain many genes, the researchers in this case said they believe they have actually pinpointed the gene involved. Read More
• Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., said the European Commission granted marketing authorization for Vitekta (elvitegravir 85 mg and 150 mg) tablets, an integrase inhibitor to treat HIV-1 infection in adults without known mutations associated with resistance to elvitegravir. Read More
• Esperion Therapeutics Inc., of Plymouth, Mich., reported results from a Phase III trial of ETC-1002 for patients with hypercholesterolemia and a history of statin intolerance showing that the drug lowered LDL-C compared to placebo by an average of 32 percent. Read More
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., of Jerusalem, said it added Lonquex (lipegfilgrastim), a long-acting G-CSF, and Granix (tbo-filgrastim), a short-acting G-CSF, to its oncology biologic portfolio. Read More
