With Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s R333 kaput in Phase II trials for skin lesions in discoid lupus erythematosus patients, attention has turned from the topical JAK/SYK inhibitor to fostamatinib, an oral SYK inhibitor bound for Phase III trials in the first half of next year in immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Read More
The SEC took the first step toward opening the door to the crowds that may be waiting to put their money where their heart is, proposing rules to implement the crowdfunding provision of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. Read More
A new underwritten public offering of about 3.25 million shares of common stock by Mirati Therapeutics Inc. will support the company’s Phase I/II push for cancer candidates MGCD265 and MGCD516, as well as an open-label, dose-confirmation trial of its late-stage candidate mocetinostat. Mirati will price the stock at $17.50 per share, and expects gross proceeds of about $56.9 million. Read More
Two separate teams, one from Yale University and another from the German Charite Hospital and Stanford University, have reported that allergic reactions to bee stings can protect mice from later, larger doses of bee venom, suggesting that allergies may serve a protective effect rather than being a misdirected immune response. Read More
• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., completed its acquisition of Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, for up-front cash of $551 million. Optimer common stock ceased trading on Nasdaq Oct. 23. Cubist said the acquisition will help it to accelerate its development of products for the acute care and hospital settings. (See BioWorld Today, July 31, 2013, and Aug. 1, 2013.) Read More
• Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cranbury, N.J., started a Phase II trial with CPI-613, its lead altered energy metabolism-directed drug candidate. The pilot study, sponsored by the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, will evaluate the overall response rate for CPI-613 in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome who have been unresponsive to previous therapies. Secondary endpoints include overall survival, progression-free survival, safety and transfusion frequency. Read More
• Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cheshire, Conn., posted higher-than-expected Soliris (eculizumab) sales of $400.4 million for the third quarter, up 36 percent year over year. Analyst estimates had predicted sales of $395 million. The company attributed the growth to steady additions of new patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and increasing numbers of new patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome beginning Soliris treatment in the U.S. and Europe. Read More
