SAN FRANCISCO – After years of watching and waiting, biotechs are seizing the opportunity to jump into the public markets while investors are eager and interested. Read More
LONDON – The first corporate deals have been completed by the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in London, six months after it was set up in March. Read More
Versartis Inc., which holds worldwide rights to the long-acting recombinant human growth hormone (rHGH) VRS-317, may take the treatment for growth hormone deficiency (GHD) all the way to approval and marketing by itself, said Srinivas Akkaraju, general partner with Sofinnova Ventures, a new investor in the company’s $20 million Series D round. Read More
Eleison Pharmaceuticals LLC moved lead compound glufosfamide into a Phase III study in second-line pancreatic cancer, seeking to achieve success in a drug that was a near-miss in previous hands. The pivotal study is assessing whether glufosfamide improves survival compared to bolus 5-FU in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who progressed or failed therapy on a gemcitabine-based regimen. Read More
Scientists have developed a method for rapidly profiling the epigenetic state of the entire genome, an advance which opens the door to new insights into which parts of a cell’s DNA are ready to be put to work at any given moment. Read More
• Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., of Belleville, Ontario, said, following discussions with Health Canada, it will be required to provide additional information for a new drug submission for Urocidin, resulting in a delay. Read More
• Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Dublin, Ohio, presented additional results from its pivotal Phase III study of Lymphoseek (technetium Tc 99m timlanocept) in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcionoma. Read More
• Medivir AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson, acquired investigational compound GSK2336805 (GSK805), an NS5a replication complex inhibitor in Phase II development of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) from an affiliate of London-based Glaxosmithkline plc. Read More
