The House Ways and Means Committee Monday began a marathon markup session as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R. 1, undergoes what could be extensive reworking. In opening the session, Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) noted that it's been more than three decades since the U.S. tax code was last reformed under President Ronald Reagan. Read More

The biopharma sector's blue chip companies unfortunately got into the Halloween spirit, with the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical index posting a 7 percent swoon in value in October. That performance could be enough to scare investors into remaining on the sidelines for the rest of the year. They may be thinking that the great run biopharmaceutical companies have had this year may have finally run out of steam. In addition, the general markets offer attractive alternatives right now.  Read More

Horizon Pharma plc, of Dublin, reported third-quarter net sales of $271.6 million, with sales of its rare disease medicines representing 59 percent. Read More

UCB SA, of Brussels, reported data from CRIB, a prospective pharmacokinetic study, showing minimal placental transfer from mother to infant of Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) during pregnancy. Read More

Patient dosing has begun in the first of four pivotal trials key to The Medicines Co.'s big bet on inclisiran, a cardiovascular-focused RNAi therapy critical to the drugmaker's return to profitability. Read More

BERLIN – Nouscom AG announced its presence on the opening day of the BIO-Europe Fall meeting with news of a €42 million (US$48.8 million) series B round that will enable it to move its distinctive viral vaccine approach to cancer immunotherapy into clinical trials. Read More

LONDON – The U.K. government is to launch an accelerated access scheme to fast track breakthrough drugs into the National Health Service (NHS) by reducing the time it takes to negotiate evaluation and financial approvals. Read More

BERLIN – The biotech industry is still cooling down from the high temperatures it reached in 2014 and 2015. R&D-stage acquisition deals and R&D-stage out-licensing deals are both well off their recent peaks, David Thomas, senior director, industry research and analysis at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) told delegates at his customary state-of-the-industry presentation at the kick-off morning plenary session at BIO-Europe. Read More

The first 3-D map has been produced of the scaffold of a molecule called SgK223, which is now known to play a critical role in the development and spread of aggressive breast, colon and pancreatic cancers. Read More

Erytech Pharma SA, of Lyon, France, set terms for its proposed U.S. IPO, seeking to offer 4.26 million American depositary shares priced at a range of $23 to $24 each, which would raise $100.1 million at the midpoint price. Read More

Mab Discovery GmbH, of Neuried, Germany, said it entered the second collaboration project agreement with Biontech AG, of Mainz, Germany. The technology platform for the generation of antibody therapeutics will be applied for proprietary targets provided by Biontech. Read More

Briacell Therapeutics Corp., of Berkeley, Calif., provided an update on its phase I/IIa study of vaccine candidate Briavax in advanced breast cancer patients. Read More

Quark Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Fremont, Calif., said a phase II trial of QPI-1002, a synthetic chemically modified siRNA acting to temporarily reduce p53 expression for the prophylaxis of acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery, met its primary endpoint of reducing the incidence of AKI through day five. Read More