Bind Therapeutics Inc.'s lead docetaxel compound from the Accurin platform is "certainly not the future story" of the company, CEO Andrew Hirsch told BioWorld Today, "and I'm not convinced was the best application of the platform, given some of the limitations of the payload." Read More
The 21st Century Cures Act moved a step closer Wednesday to becoming "the most important bill Congress will pass this year," in the words of Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Read More
As Janssen Biotech Inc. and Tesaro Inc. announced a licensing deal for the experimental prostate cancer drug, PARP inhibitor niraparib, researchers reported on unexpected effects of androgen deprivation therapy, which continues to be the mainstay of prostate cancer treatment. Read More
HAMBURG – The EMA is still waiting on a report from the French regulator Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM), in the wake of the clinical trial disaster involving painkiller BIA10-2474, which Porto, Portugal-based Bial Portela & CA was developing. Read More
M Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it entered an agreement to acquire assets from Chelatexx LLC, of Fort Thomas, Ky., related to a reformulated version of orlistat (C-103), a weight loss candidate. M will make an up-front cash payment of $200,000, issue 10 million common shares of its stock and will pay a low single-digit royalty on net sales. M also said it was undertaking a nonbrokered private placement of up to C$700,000 (US$535,685) via the issuance of units priced at C$0.025 per unit – each unit consisting of one common share and one warrant exercisable for one year at C5 cents. Read More
Remd Biotherapeutics Inc., of Camarillo, Calif., and subsidiary Beijing Cosco-Remd Bio Med-Tech Co. Ltd., said the first patient with type 1 diabetes was dosed with REMD-477 in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase Ib trial designed to evaluate safety, tolerability, pharmacodynamics, and glucose and insulin dose-lowering properties of the antibody drug, which is designed to block the glucagon receptor. Up to 20 patients will be enrolled and will receive a single subcutaneous injection. Read More
Lumos Pharma Inc., of Austin, Texas, said it completed a $34 million series B financing to support clinical trials and commercialization of lead compound LUM-001 in creatine transporter deficiency, the leading cause of X-linked mental retardation in males after fragile X syndrome. Read More
