SAN DIEGO – Johnson & Johnson is expected to announce Tuesday the launch of Janssen Labs at San Diego, a 30,000-square-foot incubator designed to serve as the future home for 18 to 20 biotech start-ups. Read More
With a stable full of promising contenders, ChemoCentryx Inc. hopes to raise $69 million in an initial public offering (IPO) to keep its drug candidates on the clinical development track. Read More
Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., completed enrollment in a Phase II trial of IPI-926 for pancreatic cancer. The trial has enrolled 122 patients and will compare IPI-926 in combination with gemcitabine to placebo and gemcitabine with a primary endpoint of overall survival. Read More
Capstone Therapeutics, of Tempe, Ariz., is cutting 14 of its 18 full-time employees to preserve cash during ongoing discussions with potential partners for dermal scarring drug AZX100. The company has been struggling since Phase IIa trials fell short of statistical significance last year. Read More
Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc., which had been seeking a partner for its hepatitis C virus (HCV) candidate setrobuvir (ANA598), found an acquirer instead, with Roche AG plunking down about $230 million in cash in a deal that analysts say could signal a wave of consolidation in the HCV space as drugmakers race to develop the first all-oral, interferon-free treatment regimen. Read More
Third Rock Ventures LLC launched a new company, Sage Therapeutics, with a $35 million Series A financing to develop new therapies for schizophrenia, depression, pain and traumatic brain injury based on modulation of GABA and glutamate neurotransmitters. Read More
Lpath Inc., of San Diego, received U.S. Patent Nos. 8,025,877, and 8,026,342, which claim methods and composition of matter for its anti-sphingosine-1-phosphate antibody, sonepcizumab, the active component in the firm's lead compounds iSONEP and ASONEP. Read More
