Medimmune, of Gaithersburg, Md., part of Astrazeneca plc, appointed Christopher Rhodes vice president, cardiovascular and metabolic disease research. Read More
GW Pharmaceuticals plc, of London, said the FDA granted fast track designation for an intravenous form of cannabidiol (CBD) to treat neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or NHIE. The EMA, meanwhile, granted orphan designation for the drug in perinatal asphyxia, a term that also describes NHIE. Read More
Aimmune Therapeutics Inc. a Brisbane, Calif., saw its shares (NASDAQ:AIMT) jumped $8.10 to close at $24.10 in its first day of trading, after pricing an IPO of 10 million shares at $16 each. The company priced the offering at the top of its intended range and said it plans to use net proceeds of the $160 million offering primarily to fund the continued clinical development of AR101, its FDA breakthrough-designated oral immunotherapy for peanut-allergic children and adolescents. Read More
As controversy and coverage issues continue dragging uptake of available human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week only a 3 percent increase since 2013 among the 13-to-17 age group – Antiva Biosciences Inc. is striding ahead with its direct-acting antiviral approach to HPV infections, thanks to $16 million in a series B financing. Read More
HONG KONG – Recovering from an acquisition bid in June that ultimately sent its shares down by about 20 percent, Chinese drugmaker Luye Pharma Group Ltd. is back on the deal trail, this time with plans to acquire Singapore-based molecular diagnostics firm Vela Diagnostics Pte Ltd. Read More
The first sites are screening patients in the pivotal U.S. phase III trial of ECCS-50, the adipose-derived regenerative cell (ADRC) therapy developed by Cytori Therapeutics Inc., in the lead indication of scleroderma. Read More
Faced with more than 80 million genetic variants that may or may not affect a person's health or risk of disease, the FDA is realizing that it will take a village in the cloud to expand its current regulatory borders and deliver the promise of precision medicine. Read More
Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. reported higher-than-expected second quarter revenues, helped by royalties on U.S. sales of obesity drug Contrave (naltrexone and bupropion). Read More
Cytodyn Inc. CEO Nader Pourhassan told BioWorld Today that his firm's advance into phase III trials with a self-injectable biologic for HIV bought several years ago from Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. may augur an era of not only vastly safer but more effective therapy, much less frequently dosed. Read More
Celsion Corp., of Lawrenceville, N.J., disclosed updated results from its retrospective analysis of the company's 701-patient Heat study of Thermodox, heat-activated liposomal encapsulation of doxorubicin in combination with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in primary liver cancer. Read More
