Bioasis Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it closed its non-brokered placement issuing 5.79 million units at C$0.70 each, for gross proceeds of C$4,058,457 (US$3.05 million). Each unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant, which entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share of the company at $1 per share for a period of 24 months from the date of closing, subject to an exercise acceleration clause, which the company may exercise once the units are free of resale restrictions and if their shares are trading at or above a volume weighted average price of $1.50 for 10 consecutive trading days. Read More

Sonoma Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Petaluma, Calif., received two new regulatory approvals from the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health & Prevention. The first approval, for Pediacyn Hydrogel (hypochlorous acid), is intended for treatment of atopic dermatitis and other dermatoses forming a protective barrier against physical, chemical and microbial invasion of the atopic dermatitis lesions under the supervision of a health care professional. The second, for Epicyn Scar Hydrogel (hypochlorous acid), also under the supervision of a health care professional, is intended for the management of scars by forming a protective barrier against physical, chemical and microbial invasion of the scar. Read More

Rare disease player Ovid Therapeutics Inc. filed an S-1 with the SEC indicating its intention to raise up to $86.25 million in an IPO. Just three years old, the New York-based company previously raised $80 million in private capital – most of that in a $75 million series B – and snagged Jeremy Levin, former president and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., to serve as its chairman. Levin, who helped to seed Ovid and holds 26.8 percent of its common stock, was named its CEO in 2015. Read More

Reducing expression of the protein ataxin-2 improved symptoms in mouse models of both spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA-2) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), scientists reported this week. Their findings appeared in two back-to-back papers in the April 13, 2017 issue of Nature. Read More

DUBLIN – Investors in Polyphor Ltd. have kept their faith in the company's first-in-class antibiotic therapy murepavadin (POL7080) by pumping in CHF40 million (US$39.8 million) in a largely internal round to fund a registration program in hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Read More

Shares of Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX) spiked more than 25 percent early Wednesday, coming within $2 of their 52-week high, after the FDA approved, on its PDUFA date, the selective vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) inhibitor, Ingrezza (valbenazine), to treat adults with tardive dyskinesia (TD). Read More

As the company unveiled positive topline phase II results with topical gel SB-208, Novan Inc. CEO Nathan Stasko told BioWorld Today that "we're really at the infancy of this platform and the nitric-oxide era," with more news due about other compounds this year. Read More

Wave Life Sciences Ltd. boasted a balance sheet of $150.3 million as of Dec. 31, funds the company said during its fourth-quarter earnings should get the firm into 2019. But as always in the field of drug development, a little extra padding never hurts, and Cambridge, Mass.-based Wave Life priced a $100 million public offering Wednesday as it gets ready to move its first three candidates into the clinic targeting CNS and neurological disorders. Read More

Despite cancer costing Americans a staggering $87.8 billion in 2014, just about 5 percent of that tab, or $4.4 billion, came out of patients pocketbooks, according to government figures. Though insurance coverages can vary widely from case to case, the most common types of coverage – employer-based, Medicare and individual market plans – remain critical for cancer patients, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the advocacy affiliate of the nation's largest non-government, not-profit funding source of cancer research. Read More