After an insane second quarter, funding of U.S. biotechs by venture capital cooled off a bit as the weather warmed up. (See BioWorld Today, July 2, 2013.) Read More
With both the House and Senate refusing to be the first to flinch in their ongoing game of chicken Tuesday, the rest of America was getting a feel for how the first government shutdown in 17 years might affect their day-to-day businesses. Read More
Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Watertown, Mass., shared the design of its planned Phase III trial of eravacycline for complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), due to begin enrolling in late 2013. Read More
The latest to price its initial public offering (IPO), Fate Therapeutics Inc. garnered about $39.6 million, an amount at the low end of its already-dipped target range, selling about 6.6 million shares at $6 each. Read More
In a move Merck & Co. Inc. chairman and CEO Kenneth C. Frazier took pains to explain as “creating greater efficiencies,” the pharma giant acceded to calls from analysts and investors to remake its R&D operation, disclosing the elimination of another 8,500 positions, in addition to previously reported reductions of 7,500 jobs, with a goal of paring annual operating expenses by approximately $2.5 billion by the end of 2015. Read More
• Bergenbio AS, of Bergen, Norway, published a paper in Blood identifying a significant role for the Axl receptor in progression and therapeutic resistance of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Read More
• Aerial Biopharma LLC, of Morrisville, N.C., reported results from a 12-week, 93-patient Phase IIb study of ADX-NO5 in with excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, which the company said validates data from a Phase IIa proof-of-concept trial in a larger patient population with a longer duration of treatment. Read More
• Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, and H. Lundbeck A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said the FDA approved Brintellix (vortioxetine) to treat major depressive disorder in adults. Read More
