With a pair of drugs devoted to what Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Stanley Crooke called "systematically knocking off the remaining lipid risk factors" for patients facing cardiovascular (CV) trouble, the company and its subsidiary, Akcea Therapeutics, closed their potential $1.6 billion deal with Novartis AG. Read More
BOSTON – Concerns about the impact President Donald Trump's administration is having on the practice and standing of science are at the top of the agenda at this year's AAAS meeting, with the organization's CEO, Rush Holt, setting the tone in telling the opening press briefing he was "delighted to be with a group that does not deal in alternative facts." Read More
BOSTON – The triumph of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Broad Institute and its spinout company Editas Medicine Inc. in the case of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing patents could impede the development of human therapies based on the technology, according to one of the leading researchers in the field. Read More
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. won a widely anticipated FDA approval for its moderate to severe plaque psoriasis drug, Siliq (brodalumab), complete with an expected black box warning for suicidal ideation and behavior that analysts expect could hamper sales. U.S. availability of the drug, licensed from Astrazeneca plc, is set for the second half of this year. Acceptance of the drug's EMA marketing authorization application arrived in late 2015. Read More
After passing through rough waters, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. sought to reassure investors on its 2016 performance, touting total revenues of $3.084 billion, an 18 percent year-over-year increase, and 2016 net sales of $2.843 billion for Soliris (eculizumab) compared to $2.591 billion in 2015, or an increase of nearly 10 percent. Read More
Biotime Inc., of Alameda, Calif., said it closed its public offering of about 7.5 million shares of common stock, including 972,222 shares from the full overallotment option, at $2.70 per share. Gross proceeds totaled about $20.1 million. Read More
Benitec Biopharma Ltd., of Sydney, said it will present pivotal data from the company's hepatitis B virus in vivo model at the 26th Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver meeting in Shanghai. Read More
Neuralstem Inc., of Germantown, Md., said it completed enrollment in its phase II trial of small-molecule NSI-189 for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Read More
