DUBLIN, Ireland – Elan Corp. plc continues to execute its M&A strategy at a dizzying pace, while its would-be acquirer, Royalty Pharma has tabled a revised offer for the company, worth $12.50 per share or $6.37 billion. Read More
Generic drugmaker Actavis Inc.'s plan to take over Dublin, Ireland-based Warner Chilcott plc in a stock-for-stock transaction worth about $8.5 billion, thus forming the world's third-largest specialty pharmaceutical firm, would put the combined firm – with about $11 billion in annual revenues – on even more solid footing in the busily consolidating biosimilars realm. Read More
For more than half a decade, researchers have understood translation to be a key step in gene expression, but it's only recently that drugmakers have begun looking at restoring translational control as a means of treating disease. Read More
Shares of Xenoport Inc. (NASDAQ:XNPT) dropped almost to the bottom of their 52-week range early Monday, opening at $5.04 after the company terminated its late stage arbaclofen placarbil (AP, previously XP19986) program in spasticity due to multiple sclerosis (MS) after a pivotal Phase III trial failed to demonstrate statistically significant improvement compared to placebo. Read More
Major depression affects more than 15 percent of the population at some point in their lives, and about 7 percent in any given year. Currently approved antidepressants are effective only about half the time – and even then, with a lag time of several weeks after a patient starts taking them. Read More
LONDON – Merck Serono is enlarging its venture fund from €40 million to €100 million (US$51 million to $128 million) – increasing its capacity to invest in early stage companies, technologies and products that can be shaped up for the company's internal pipeline. Read More
• Neuralstem Inc., of Rockville, Md., presented updated, favorable Phase I data from its spinal cord-derived human neural stem cell (NSI-566) trial in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig 's disease) at the neuro-diabetes special medical symposium in Bucharest, Romania. Read More
• Asmacure Ltee, of Quebec City, reported findings from four studies of ASM-024, its lead compound for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), at the 2013 American Thoracic Society International Conference in Philadelphia. Read More
• Cempra Inc., of Chapel Hill, N.C., presented data at the American Thoracic Society International Conference (ATS 2013) in Philadelphia demonstrating the antibacterial and enhanced immunomodulatory activity of solithromycin vs. levofloxacin in Cempra's prior Phase II trial in outpatients with community acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP). Read More
