The first signs surfaced in about 2007 that maybe China and India would not soon become the drug-development giants that the U.S. industry believed, and new research published as correspondence in the March 2013 issue of Nature Biotechnology seems to confirm suspicions about emerging markets. Read More
Following receipt of the FDA's new Breakthrough Therapy Designation for its investigational cancer compound, ibrutinib, Pharmacyclics Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., is gearing up for commercial launch by pricing its public offering of 2.2 million shares of common stock at $94.20 per share, for a total raise of $207.2 million. Read More
Cancer immunotherapy has high hopes riding on it these days. In contrast to the spectacular but extremely short-lived effects of targeted therapies, where immunotherapy works, it often leads to remissions that last for years. Read More
One month after gaining FDA approval for Ravicti (glycerol phenylbutyrate) in the chronic management of certain urea cycle disorders (UCDs), orphan disease specialist Hyperion Therapeutics Inc. upsized a public offering of about 2.9 million shares of common stock, priced at $20.75, seeking to raise $59.7 million. Read More
• Galapagos NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, said it agreed with Roche AG, of Basel, Switzerland, to end their alliance in fibrosis, with Roche making a payment of €5.75 million (US$7.5 million) for work completed in 2012. Read More
• Bio-Path Holdings Inc., of Houston, said it started enrolling patients in the fifth dosage cohort in its Phase I trial testing BP-100-1.01 (liposomal Grb-2) as a systemic treatment for blood cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. Read More
• Eisai Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., reported that the German Federal Joint Committee said it considers the additional benefit of Fycompa (perampanel) unproven when compared to two other treatments. Read More
• Janssen Research & Development LLC, of Raritan, N.J., a unit of Johnson & Johnson, said it launched EXPLORER, a global research program for oral anticoagulant Xarelto (rivaroxaban) to evaluate its use in patients with chronic heart failure and in those with coronary artery disease or peripheral artery disease. Read More
