WASHINGTON – Perhaps nothing illustrates the sense of hope that pervades the 19th International AIDS Conference being held in Washington this week like a much-repeated anecdote – told at least three time in as many sessions – about the casketmaker in Lesotho complaining about how much business is down due to the increased survival times of HIV-infected individuals. Read More
Regenerative medicine developer Histogenics Corp. said Tuesday that it completed a $49 million financing to complete its ongoing Phase III program for lead candidate NeoCart, an autologous neocartilage tissue implant that utilizes a patient's own cells to regenerate articular cartilage in the knee. The trial is currently enrolling patients. Read More
The notion that one gene can make only one protein, once a central tenet of molecular biology, has long since been revised. One gene can make several proteins through alternative splicing. Read More
Following encouraging results from a Phase III trial, PTC Therapeutics Inc., of South Plainfield, N.J., completed a $30 million financing to support late-stage development of ataluren. The drug has showed clinically meaningful trends in Duchenne's and Becker muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. Read More
LONDON – Cell therapy specialist Cell Medica Ltd. has raised £17 million (US$26.5 million) in a mixture of public and private funding, including a grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to be devoted to setting up manufacturing and running a clinical trial in the state. Read More
• Oxford BioMedica plc, of London, said the U.S.-based Foundation Fighting Blindness granted it a $125,000 award to support the opening of a second trial site in Paris for the UshStat Phase I/IIa study. A gene-based treatment for Usher syndrome Type 1B, UshStat is the third ocular product to enter clinical development under Oxford's collaboration with Sanofi SA, of Paris. The open-label, dose-escalation trial was initiated in February in the U.S., where it will enroll up to 18 patients. The Paris site is expected to open early next year. Read More
• Cerulean Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it dosed the first patient in a Phase II study testing CRLX101 in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. The study is designed to test the drug, a nanopharmaceutical that inhibits both topoisomerase 1 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha, in patients whose disease has progressed following standard first-line platinum-based therapy. Read More
• InterMune Inc., of Brisbane, Calif., reported net second-quarter revenue of $5.5 million for Esbriet (pirfenidone) and said it reached agreement on a reimbursement price of €26,999 (US$33,000) per patient per year in Germany, a discount of about 10 percent from the current price. Read More
• Sandoz Inc., a unit of Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG, said it completed its $1.525 billion acquisition of specialty U.S. dermatology company Fougera Pharmaceuticals Inc.. Read More
• Kowa Pharmaceuticals America Inc., of Montgomery, Ala., and Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, released results from a pharmacokinetic study exploring potential drug interaction between cholesterol medication Livalo (pitavastatin) 4 mg and protease inhibitor combo Prezista/Norvir (darunavir, Tibotec Pharmaceuticals Ltd./ritonavir, Abbott) 800 mg/100 mg in healthy volunteers. Read More
