In January, investors in Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. showed their displeasure with early stage pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic findings on the use of emricasan in patients with impaired liver function by sending the company's shares (NASDAQ:CNAT) into a 40 percent freefall. Read More
DUBLIN – Shares in Innate Pharma SA fell 14 percent Thursday on news that a data safety and monitoring board (DSMB) called a halt to one treatment arm of a phase II trial in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) testing lirilumab (IPH2102, BMS-986015), an immunotherapeutic antibody that targets inhibitory killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) expressed by natural killer (NK) cells. Read More
It's been a fruitful week for Ebola vaccines, with progress reported ranging from phase III to the preclinical arena. Clinically, the first phase III efficacy trial of an Ebola vaccine got under way in Guinea this week. VSV-EBOV, which Merck & Co. Inc. licensed from Newlink Genetics Corp., is being tested in a two-step trial. Read More
Vical Inc. is moving to expand its infectious disease portfolio by in-licensing a trial-ready antifungal from Astellas Pharma Inc. that could complement a DNA-based cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine on which the companies already collaborate. Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments March 31 in the case of Kimble v. Marvel, a case that tackles the issue of whether royalties necessarily expire when the underlying patent expires. Read More
Novavax Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., priced an underwritten public offering of about 24 million shares of common stock at a price to the public of $7.25 per share for gross proceeds of about $175 million. Read More
Aduro Biotech Inc., of Berkeley, Calif., landed an orphan drug designation for CRS-207, its experimental treatment for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma who have not received prior therapy and are not eligible for surgical resection. Read More
Helsinn Group, of Lugano, Switzerland, and Mundipharma International Corp. Ltd., of Singapore, said they entered a distribution and license agreement for the exclusive rights to anamorelin in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao. Read More
Sanofi SA, of Paris, said its Genzyme unit disclosed the publication of results from the phase III ENCORE study exploring Cerdelga (eliglustat) as a maintenance therapy suitable for adult patients who had reached pre-specific treatment goals on enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) in the online issue of The Lancet. Read More
