MUNICH and HEIDELBERG, Germany – Biotech’s summer of love has been an overwhelmingly American affair. The flood of U.S. initial public offerings (IPOs) completed in 2013 – by the end of August, 26 companies had raised $1.84 billion – threatens to further widen the already large gulf between the U.S. and European biopharma sectors. Read More

Start-up Epirus Biopharmaceuticals Inc.’s in-market, for-market approach to making and selling biosimilars in emerging territories could be just the “David” ticket to beat pharma Goliaths that dominate the realm, said Amit Munshi, president and CEO of the Boston-based firm. Read More

Neurotrope Inc. completed a reverse merger making Neurotrope Bioscience Inc. – a wholly owned subsidiary – in hopes of bolstering fundraising efforts to advance its programs in Alzheimer’s disease. Read More

Not all scientists want to spend their lives in a lab. Laxminarayan Bhat was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, and his desire to speed up drug development without sacrificing quality became the impetus for Reviva Pharmaceuticals Inc., which he founded in 2006. Read More

Prostate cancer is a diagnosis that is made almost a quarter of a million times annually in the U.S. And it is a diagnosis that can spell many things. Read More

• Genzyme Inc., a unit of Sanofi SA, of Paris, said the European Commission granted marketing authorization for Aubagio (teriflunomide) as a once-daily, oral therapy in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Read More

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BioWorld’s offices were closed Monday, Sept. 2, in observance of the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. Read More

• Ophthotech Corp., of New York, initiated enrollment in a pivotal Phase III trial of lead compound Fovista, an anti-platelet-derived growth factor, which is being studied in combination with anti-VEGF therapy to treat newly diagnosed neovascular age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). Read More

• Acton Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., agreed to be acquired by Meda AB, of Goteberg, Sweden, in a cash transaction. Read More

• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., of Jerusalem, said its final Phase III study of armodafinil (Nuvigil) as adjunct therapy in adults with major depression associated with bipolar I disorder failed to achieve the primary endpoint of determining whether armodafinil (150 mg per day) is more effective than placebo as adjunct therapy to mood stabilizers and/or atypical antipsychotics. Read More

Part of what drives allergies is clearly a dysregulated immune system. But researchers from the Israeli Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Northwestern University have identified a syndrome consisting of severe dermatitis, multiple allergies and metabolic wasting that has its origin in a structural defect of the skin. Read More