Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, and H. Lundbeck A/S, of Valby, Denmark, reported phase III findings on the efficacy safety and tolerability of brexpiprazole as adjunctive treatment to antidepressant therapy (ADT) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Phoenix. Read More

Polaris Group, of San Diego, said the first patient has been dosed in its phase I trial of ADI-PEG 20 in combination with sorafenib, a current first line therapy, for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). ADI-PEG 20 is designed to deplete the external supply of arginine, which causes arginine-dependent cancer cells to die while leaving the patient’s normal cells unharmed. Read More

ANI Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Baudette, Minn., said it closed an underwritten public offering of its 3 percent convertible senior notes due 2019 in the aggregate principal amount of $143.75 million, which includes the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option to purchase $18.75 million of notes. Read More

Iroko Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Philadelphia, said the Republic of Lebanon Ministry of Public Health approved Zorvolex (diclofenac), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, to treat mild-to-moderate acute pain and osteoarthritis pain. The drug is approved in the U.S. in the same indications. Read More

Congress is racing against the clock to approve a $1.013 trillion discretionary budget that will fund most of the government through September 2015. Read More

LONDON – If a lack of commercial incentives has led the pharma industry to stop developing antibiotics then the specter of antimicrobial resistance should lure it back in, according to a UK government-sponsored study itemizing the economic toll of drug-resistant infections. Read More

Alizé Pharma SAS has a diverse and seemingly incongruous portfolio that includes an unacylated ghrelin analog (UAG) aimed at Prader-Willi syndrome and type 2 diabetes, a pegylated recombinant L-asparaginase to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and a rare disease program with an as-yet undisclosed target. But that doesn’t mean the programs compete with each other. Read More

DUBLIN – Buoyed by six initial public offerings and two trade sales from its fourth fund, Versant Ventures formally closed its fifth fund, Versant Venture Capital V LP, at $305 million, $55 million ahead of target, with a mission to focus on early and late-stage biotechnology opportunities on either side of the Atlantic. Read More

Acorda wasted no time getting down to business following its buyout of Civitas Therapeutics Inc. in October, enrolling the first patient in the pivotal study of CVT-301, an inhaled version of levodopa designed specifically to reduce motor fluctuation – i.e., “off” episodes – in Parkinson’s disease patients. Read More

Plantform Corp., of Guelph, Ontario, said it has been awarded a contract with the Government of Canada to create stable glyco-modified Nicotiana benthamiana plant lines for the production of pharmaceutical proteins and continued supply of recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) to Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). The contract is valued at $831,600 and will run until March 31, 2017. Read More