Drug discovery firm Forma Therapeutics Holdings LLC racked up another collaboration – its biggest so far – inking Celgene Corp. to a potential multicandidate deal targeting protein homeostasis, a new area of biology linked to oncology, neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases. Read More
SAN FRANCISCO – Phase II deal values surpassed Phase III in 2012, leading a senior biopharma analyst for Deloitte Recap LLC, to say "2012 was certainly the year of the Phase II" in her talk summarizing Deloitte's analysis of 1,692 deals closed in 2012 at the firm's Allicense Conference in San Francisco on Monday. Read More
DUBLIN, Ireland – Opsona Therapeutics Ltd. raised €33 million (US$43.2 million) in a Series C funding round to take forward a first-in-class Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2) inhibitor, OPN-305, into a Phase II trial for preventing delayed graft function (DGF) in high-risk kidney transplant patients. Read More
LONDON – A 2.5 year investigation into the low level of uptake of biosimilars in Europe has concluded that – in the absence of automatic substitution – a hearts-and-minds education campaign covering physicians, payers and patients is the only lever that can be pulled at a pan-European level to drive the growth of the market. Read More
Spinning out assets into a new corporate entity is a business strategy that is starting to gain traction once again. Theravance Inc., of South San Francisco, is the latest company to join several pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, including Abbott, Pfizer Inc. and Resverlogix Corp. to reveal that undertaking. Read More
• Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Chesterbrook, Pa., reported net revenues of $66.2 million for the first quarter ending March 31, compared to net revenues of $73.6 million in the first quarter of 2012. The decrease was attributed to a fall in U.S. sales of Xiaflex (collagenase clostridium histolyticum, or CCH) and Testim. On a U.S. GAAP basis, Auxilium reported net loss of $8.2 million, or 17 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $1.7 million, or 4 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Read More
• Cara Therapeutics Inc., of Shelton, Conn., and Maruishi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, said they entered a license agreement providing Maruishi exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize Cara's lead analgesic drug candidate, CR845, for acute pain and uremic pruritus in Japan. Read More
• Neuralstem Inc., of Rockville, Md., reported that final data on the intraspinal delivery method employed in its NSI-566 Phase I trial to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) were presented at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting. Read More
• Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A. Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., said in the case of Jack Cooper et al. v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc., et al., No. CGC-12-518535, the jury found in favor of the plaintiffs and awarded a total of $6.5 million in damages. Read More
• Pfizer Inc., of New York, presented results from a Phase III study investigating immunogenicity, tolerability and safety of Prevenar 13 (Pneumococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccine [13-valent, adsorbed]) in adults 18 to 49. Read More
