Catching Wall Street by surprise, Amgen Inc. reported top-line Phase III results showing Xgeva (denosumab) improved median bone metastasis-free survival by 4.2 months in men with castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) vs. placebo – the first time a bone-targeted drug has delayed the spread of prostate cancer to the bones. Read More
Tesaro Inc. has acquired rights to nausea drug rolapitant and one other drug from OPKO Health Inc. for $121 million Including milestones, double-digit, tiered royalties and a 10 percent equity position in Tesaro. Rolapitant was a Schering-Plough Corp. property, but OPKO nabbed it for just $2 million up front following Schering's 2009 merger with Merck and Co. Inc. Read More
Partners Immunomedics Inc. and UCB SA have launched two Phase III studies of epratuzumab in patients with moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the most common form of lupus, a chronic and potentially fatal autoimmune disease. Read More
Shares of Capstone Therapeutics were walloped after data from Phase IIa pilot trials testing antifibrotic peptide AZX100 in keloid scarring fell short of showing statistical significance, but company executives maintained that the drug warrants further development. Read More
Coming off a good showing at the American Society of Hematology meeting in Orlando, Fla., where its JAK inhibitor CYT387 impressed in myelofibrosis, YM BioSciences Inc. is padding its coffers with a $40 million public offering. Read More
Trophos SA, of Marseille, France, said that it received a European Union award of €6 million (US$8 million) to support MitoCare, a two-and-a-half year international, translational medicine project that will begin in January 2011 and will be conducted by a 16-partner consortium led by Trophos. MitoCare will investigate the efficacy and safety of TRO40303 in a Phase II proof-of-concept study to treat cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury in acute myocardial infarction patients and develop knowledge of biomarkers and models of cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury, the company said. Read More
Profectus Biosciences Inc., of Baltimore, said its Genevax IL-12 pDNA adjuvant has significantly improved the vaccine-induced response rate in a Phase I study with 48 healthy volunteers of an experimental DNA vaccine for HIV. The data were presented in Seattle at the annual HIV Vaccine Trials Network Conference held in November. Read More
