Viking Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, presented data from a phase I trial of VK5211, the company's lead program for muscle and bone disorders, at the 5th Fragility Fracture Network Global Congress 2016, in Rome. The results of the study showed VK5211 to be safe, well tolerated and to have a predictable pharmacokinetic profile in healthy women and men 65 and older. VK5211 is an orally available, nonsteroidal selective androgen receptor modulator designed to selectively stimulate muscle and bone formation with reduced activity in peripheral tissues such as skin and prostate. Viking said those characteristics may benefit patients recovering from hip fracture. Read More
Aslan Pharmaceuticals Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, licensed a preclinical immuno-oncology antibody, targeting RON (Recepteur d'Origine Nantais), from Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) with plans to develop and commercialize it globally. Read More
Immune-onc Therapeutics Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., raised a series A financing of $7 million to support discovery and development of novel antibodies for cancer immunotherapy. Read More
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) gathered fodder for lawmakers intent on giving Medicare more authority to curb spending on physician-administered drugs. It also could bolster a California initiative to lower drug prices. Read More
A long-awaited global phase III study of Cytokinetics Inc.'s chronic heart failure drug omecamtiv mecarbil, funded and run by partner Amgen Inc., is on track to start during the fourth quarter, the companies said. Read More
A metabolomics signature consisting of a group of eight metabolites in males and 13 metabolites in females was able to diagnose myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) with better than 90 percent accuracy, possibly enabling more accurate diagnosis of a disorder that remains hard to pin down. Read More
DUBLIN – The evaporation of political support in Europe for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a comprehensive U.S.-EU free trade deal, was overshadowed this week by the dramatic ruling from the European Commission's (EC) Competition Directorate General (DG Competition). Read More
