SHANGHAI – Eli Lilly and Co. has deepened its relationship with Chinese biotech, Innovent Biologics Inc. in an immuno-oncology deal worth potentially $1 billion in milestone and royalty payments if all goes according to plan over the next decade. Read More
LONDON – Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has launched what it claims is the biggest and most ambitious cancer grant program in the world, promising a £100 million (US$153 million) investment into a series of grand challenges that have been singled out as among the greatest barriers standing in the way of beating the disease. Read More
HONG KONG – Chinese biopharmaceutical company Luye Pharma Group Ltd. (LPG) spiked in Hong Kong trading last week after getting a green light from the U.S. FDA on the new drug application (NDA) for an investigational schizophrenia drug. Read More
In an exclusive global licensing and development deal, Astellas Pharma Inc. is building on a single vaccine deal it struck with Immunomic Therapeutics Inc. (ITI) earlier this year to capture rights to ITI's full portfolio of allergy-focused DNA vaccines. Read More
Targeting cadherin-11 (cad-11) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) could provide a complement to existing therapies, Adheron Therapeutics Inc. CEO Hari Kumar told BioWorld Today, and "that's exactly how we pitched it" to Roche AG, which is shelling out $105 million up front and potentially $475 million in milestone payments to take over the company, as toxicity studies continue ahead of phase II trials with SPD051. Read More
Just four years out of the starting blocks, the race to approval for its first oral drug seems more a sprint for Marathon Pharmaceuticals LLC than the longer event that inspired its name. Read More
Sarepta Therapeutics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., closed an underwritten public offering of 3.25 million common shares priced at $39 apiece for gross proceeds of approximately $127 million. Read More
Bavarian Nordic A/S, of Copenhagen, said a new study started testing the Ebola prime-boost vaccine regimen that combines Bavarian's MVA-BN Filo vaccine with the Ad26.Zebov vaccine from Crucell Holland B.V., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical companies of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson. Read More
Verastem Inc., of Boston, reduced its work force by approximately half, to 20 full-time employees, following its decision last month to halt the pivotal phase II COMMAND study after lead candidate VS-6063 (defactinib) failed to show efficacy in treating malignant pleural mesothelioma. Read More
Scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have reported that by directly reprogramming skin cells into neurons, they were able to preserve aging-associated gene expression patterns in the resulting cells, opening up the possibility of studying age-related phenomena in such cells. Read More
