Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it started STRONG-SCD, a phase II trial evaluating once-daily IW-1701, an orally administered soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulator, in patients with sickle cell disease. IW-1701 has been shown to improve nitric oxide signaling in nonclinical studies, and is being investigated for its potential to treat multiple aspects of sickle cell disease pathophysiology, including red blood cell sickling, decreased blood flow and vascular inflammation. Read More
Mesoblast Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said the FDA granted regenerative medicine advanced therapy designation to its mesenchymal precursor cell (MPC) therapy for the treatment of heart failure patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction and left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). Read More
Sensorion SA, of Montpellier, France, said it carried out a capital increase of €1.6 million reserved to Cochlear Investment Ltd., of Sydney. Read More
Mavupharma Inc., a new company developing therapies for cancer and infectious diseases, recently secured a $20 million series A financing led by Frazier Healthcare Partners, joined by Alpine Bioventures. Read More
HONG KONG – Caywon Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. is using Crowd Machine technology to become one of the first companies in China to specialize in decentralizing the pharmaceuticals development process. Read More
Flx Bio Inc. completed a $60 million series C, adding GV (formerly Google Ventures) and several undisclosed investors to its syndicate. Existing investors, including the Column Group, Kleiner Perkins, Topspin Partners and Celgene Corp., also joined the round. Read More
Tax reform is headed for the Oval Office for a signature, a bill that provides a mixed bag for the life sciences. While the corporate tax rate will fall by double-digit percentage in the years ahead, the orphan drug tax credit is cut in half and the 2.3 percent medical device tax is set to come back into play as of Jan. 1, 2018. Read More
The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA said it will require a new set of warnings for gadolinium-based contrast agents used in MRI procedures, despite that an FDA advisory committee indicated no adverse effects in patients with normal kidney function. Read More
