Abstracts from the 2016 annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) drew swift reaction from analysts, who zeroed in on prospects for success in Bluebird Bio Inc.’s ongoing phase II STARBEAM trial of Lenti-D in childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD), an ultra-rare and ultimately fatal disorder. Read More

The start of Galapagos NV’s phase IIa trial with its cystic fibrosis (CF) therapy, GLPG1832, triggered new speculation regarding what’s ahead for the apparently solid franchise in the space held by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company that Morningstar analyst Stefan Quenneville called “a rare gem,” with CF drugs on the market and in the pipeline that are still not given their due on Wall Street. Read More

Shares of Vitae Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VTAE) fell more than 50 percent to hit a record low Friday after the company closed enrollment earlier than expected in the second part of a multiple ascending-dose study of its psoriasis candidate, VTP-43742. Concern over the meaning of the move, for which Vitae provided little explanation, led Stifel analyst Tom Schrader to downgrade company shares and suggest that the firm is “unlikely to report data that are viewed as overall positive for this trial.” Read More

HONG KONG – Hormones released during chronic stress have been shown to remodel the lymphatic vasculature to promote cancer cell dissemination in mice, while targeting that stress pathway with beta-blockers may prove useful in blocking the spread of cancer cells, Australian scientists report in the March 1, 2016, issue of Nature Communications. Read More

NEW DELHI – Start-ups and spin-offs could boost India’s biopharma sector, as long as the sector as a whole can overcome a series of hurdles, including a chronic shortage of financing. Read More

Myos Corp., of Cedar Knolls, N.J., closed the initial tranche of the previously announced strategic investment by Rens Technology Inc. In connection with the initial closing, Rens invested $5.25 million and received 1.5 million shares of the company’s common stock and a warrant to purchase 375,000 shares of common stock at $7 per share. The parties intend to conduct two additional closings over the next 24 months for an additional $15 million in gross proceeds. Myos said it intends to use the net proceeds from the initial tranche to fund its working capital, product development and marketing, R&D and other general corporate purposes. Read More

Onconova Therapeutics Inc., of Newtown, Pa., said it was notified that Baxalta U.S. Inc., a unit of Baxalta Inc., of Bannockburn, Ill., plans to terminate its 2012 development and license agreement for Onconova’s lead candidate, rigosertib. Read More

Vtesse Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., reported that phase I/II data from 14 patients with Niemann-Pick type C1 showed that after 12 months and 18 months of treatment with VTS-270, disease progression as measured by the NPC Neurological Severity Score was “significantly reduced” compared to data from a control group who did not receive the study drug. The data were presented at the Worldsymposium in San Diego. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 8, 2015.) Read More

Scientists from the Broad Institute have shown that they could screen pooled cancer cell lines both in vitro and in animal models by first labeling individual cell lines with DNA "barcodes." Read More