Osaka, Japan-based Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. moved to acquire Canadian vaccine developer Medicago Inc. for $357 million, or $1.16 in cash per share, a premium of about 22.1 percent to the closing price of Medicago's stock on July 11. The acquisition follows a successful strategic alliance in 2012, under which the companies agreed to develop and commercialize at least three vaccines using Medicago's virus-like particle (VLP) technology. Read More
As promised, Eli Lilly and Co. is making another run at Alzheimer's disease (AD) with its Phase III candidate solanezumab (sola), this time in the mild form of the disease. Read More
Qiagen NV's Therascreen EGFR RGQ PCR Kit gained FDA approval alongside Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH's lung cancer drug Gilotrif (afatinib), putting another notch in the win column for the growing companion diagnostics space, though there are still challenges to overcome before the use of companion diagnostics becomes routine in the marketplace. Read More
• Amarin Corp. plc, of Dublin, completed its underwritten public offering of 21.7 million American Depositary Shares (ADS). The underwriters purchased the shares from the company at $5.60 apiece, for net proceeds of approximately $121.1 million. Read More
• Neostem Inc., of New York, disclosed a 1-for-10 reverse split of its common stock (NYSE:NBS), effective when trading begins on July 16. The company's ticker symbol will remain unchanged. Read More
• Rxi Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Westborough, Mass., reported positive results of a Phase I study of RXI-109, an sd-rxRNA, for abnormal dermal scars. Read More
• Actavis Inc., of Parsippany, N.J., said it received approval from the FDA on its abbreviated new drug application for oxymorphone hydrochloride extended-release tablets at dosages of 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg, 30 mg and 40 mg. Read More
RNA binding proteins are key to determining what ultimately happens to RNA after it is transcribed from DNA, influencing translation levels, splicing and other factors. But comparatively little is known about which sequences such proteins latch onto. Read More
