Abbvie Inc., of North Chicago, Ill., said a pivotal phase III trial that will evaluate the use of Humira (adalimumab) as a treatment for fingernail psoriasis in patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis, has been initiated. Read More
Eisai Co. Ltd., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., said it entered a collaboration with nonprofit organization Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University of Liverpool to identify new drugs against lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis (river blindness), both major types of the parasitic tropical disease filariasis. Read More
Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Lexington, Mass., said interim results from the ENCHANT-1 trial, a single-arm multicenter phase II proof-of-concept study designed to evaluate ganetespib, administered as a monotherapy for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, were presented at the European Breast Cancer conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Read More
Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Aliso Viejo, Calif., said data showing that dextromethorphan has antidepressant-like effects in vivo were published in PLOS One. Read More
The EMA hopes to sign up multiple participants to a newly launched adaptive licensing pilot project, which will explore the processes and procedures required to put in place a fully fledged scheme. Read More
Researchers have identified a microRNA that could be a therapeutic target in heart failure patients. In their findings, they showed that miR-25 levels were increased in a mouse model of heart failure, and blocking that microRNA stopped the progression of existing heart failure and improved survival in the animals. Read More
Someone has got to be on the hook for every prescription drug, be it brand or generic. That’s the policy behind the FDA’s proposed rule that would enable generic drugmakers to change their labels independently of the brand drug. Read More
Akebia Therapeutics Inc. beat the target amount raised in its initial public offering to raise about $100 million, and started off trading with a bang, closing Thursday (NASDAQ:AKBA) at $26.70, up 57 percent. Read More
Zealand Pharma A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, reported royalty revenues of DKK6.6 million (US$1.25 million) from partner Sanofi SA, of Paris, from global 2013 sales of Lyxumia (lixisenatide), a Zealand-discovered GLP-1 receptor agonist to treat type 2 diabetes. Read More
