Carmot Therapeutics Inc., a small-molecule lead-identification specialist and partner of Amgen Inc. since 2014, is extending its work for the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based drugmaker to Parkinson's disease (PD) and other selected areas in a new multiyear deal. Clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization of any resulting molecules will be Amgen's job, while Carmot will receive an up-front payment of undisclosed value, research support and, potentially, milestone payments worth more than $240 million. Read More

SAN ANTONIO – One of the most anticipated presentations on the first day of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) was the B-47 study, which investigated the use of adjuvant Herceptin (trastuzumab, Roche Holding AG) in patients with low HER2 expression. Read More

Michael Gilman keeps staring down retirement. The scientist and serial entrepreneur, late of Padlock Therapeutics Inc., which was sold last year to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. for $600 million, has been splitting his time between Arrakis Therapeutics Inc., where he serves as CEO, and an Atlas Venture company focused on gene and cell therapy that was under wraps until this week. (See BioWorld Today, March 24, 2016, and Feb. 28, 2017.) Read More

LONDON – The government has unveiled a package of investments by 25 life science companies, which it says demonstrates the U.K. remains an attractive place to invest despite Brexit. Read More

In a move that likely will increase the craving of some U.S. lawmakers for the importation of cheaper drugs from Canada, the Canadian government is proposing revisions to its Patented Medicines Regulations to make prescription drugs even more affordable in that country. Read More

Editas Medicine Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., a genome editing firm, priced a public offering of 1.97 million shares of common stock for gross proceeds of about $50 million. Underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 295,500 shares. Morgan Stanley is acting as sole book running manager. The share price was not disclosed. Editas' stock (NASDAQ:EDIT) closed Wednesday at $25.18, down $2.12. Read More

To expedite drug development for rare pediatric diseases, the FDA released a draft guidance on a collaborative approach using Gaucher disease as a model. The guidance describes the new approach, developed in partnership with the EMA, for companies to collaborate and test multiple drug products in the same clinical trials, reducing the number of patients needed in a placebo control arm.  Read More

Tetragenics Inc., of Arlington, Mass., said it is collaborating with Modiquest Research BV, of Oss, the Netherlands, for the discovery and optimization of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), including those directed against difficult target antigens with low immunogenicity. The alliance is focused on the discovery of MAbs against KCa3.1, a well-validated target for fibrosis, vasculoproliferative disorders and immunomodulation to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read More

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Pasadena, Calif., reported new data from its phase II trial testing ARC-520, the company's prior-generation RNAi-based drug against chronic hepatitis B (HBV) infection, at the 22nd biennial HEP DART meeting held in Kona, Hawaii. Seven months after the last dose of ARC-520 was administered, patients experienced up to a 5 log10 reduction of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg ) from baseline.  Read More