Cytokinetics Inc. and licensor Amgen Inc. will wait until a Phase II study in chronic heart failure with orally given omecamtiv mecarbil generates data to decide the fate of the compound, which fizzled in a Phase II trial testing the intravenous (I.V.) form of the cardiac myosin activator against acute heart failure (AHF). Read More
LONDON – Evotec AG has received the significant endorsement – and huge financial boost – of an unsolicited €30 million (US$39.5 million) investment from Biotechnology Value Fund LP (BVF). Read More
LONDON – Acacia Pharma Ltd. raised £15 million (US$23.5 million) in a Series B funding, providing the means to complete Phase III development of its lead product, APD421, for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), and to file a new drug application around the middle of 2014. Read More
It will be anything but business as usual when Congress reconvenes on Sept. 9, as the debate on military action in Syria is expected to compress the congressional schedule prior to Oct. 1, leading to uncertainty about budget sequestration, funding for health care and research spending. Read More
Coherus Biosciences Inc. expanded the horizons for its biosimilar product for Enbrel (etanercept, Amgen Inc.) by inking a potential $246 million deal giving Baxter International Inc. rights to the drug in Europe, Canada, Brazil and other undisclosed markets. Read More
New York-based Intra-Cellular Therapies Inc. (ITI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapeutics for CNS disorders, generated gross proceeds of approximately $60 million from a private placement, which included the sale of approximately 18.9 million shares of its common stock to new and existing investors and approximately $15.3 million in bridge notes that converted into common stock at the closing. Read More
In work that sheds new light on both immune function and the body’s response to injuries, researchers have shown that platelets play a role in the trafficking of T cells into lymph nodes. Read More
• Sigma-Aldrich Corp., of St. Louis, said it entered a nonexclusive license agreement with Horizon Discovery Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, for use of Sigma’s Compozr Zinc Finger Nuclease technology. Read More
• Esperion Therapeutics Inc., of Plymouth, Mich., reported top-line results from a Phase IIa study of ETC-1002 when added to statin therapy in patients with elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), with data showing that oral, once-daily ETC-1002 achieved incremental LDL-C lowering of 22 percent at eight weeks, compared with 0 percent in the placebo group, when added to 10 mg of atorvastatin (p < 0.0001). Read More
• Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, reported findings from the global Phase III Hokusai-VTE (venous thromboembolism) study of 8,292 patients with acute symptomatic deep vein thrombosis and/or pulmonary embolism. Read More
• Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, entered a research service agreement with diagnostics firm Diaxonhit, of Paris, for the discovery and characterization of splice variants that have the potential to be therapeutic targets for oncology. With the agreement, Boehringer secures an option to acquire the rights to research, develop and commercialize any targets identified using Diaxonhit’s Splicearray discovery platform. Read More
