Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, said its EMD Serono subsidiary inked a research agreement with Pfizer Inc., of New York, and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., which will focus on the genomic profiling of systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis patients. Read More
Galectin Therapeutics Inc., of Norcross, Ga., said results from the first cohort of its phase I trial showed that GR-MD-02 had an effect on biomarkers that suggests a therapeutic effect on fibrosis, inflammation and cellular injury. Read More
Morphosys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, said it will further collaborate with Biametrics GmbH, of Tubingen, Germany, in the area of high-throughput antibody screening, following the successful screening using Morphosys’ reagents and Biametrics’ label-free microarray-based instrumentation b-screen for the characterization of Fab fragement antigen interactions. Read More
Cellectis SA completed a €20.5 (US$28.3 million) million private placement with a syndicate of U.S. investors to use its suite of technologies for engineering T cells and chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) in the development an allogeneic cell therapy based on CAR-transduced T cells. Read More
Researchers have identified a metabolite, the fatty acid CMPF, which is starkly elevated in the blood plasma of pregnant women with gestational diabetes and in both women and men with type 2 diabetes. Read More
If the FDA approved drugs and devices based on the populations adequately tested in clinical trials, most medical products would be indicated only for white men younger than 65. Read More
Index Pharmaceuticals AB is getting €5 million (US$6.9 million) up front and could get up to €95 million more in a European licensing deal with Almirall SA for its ulcerative colitis treatment, Kappaproct, which is undergoing a phase III trial. Read More
Baseball parks are opening for business this week, but the biotech industry has already hit a grand slam with 26 biotechs raising $1.77 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs) on U.S. exchanges in the first quarter. Read More
April Fool’s Day wasn’t mentioned until the parting comment of Tuesday’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee’s (EMDAC) meeting to discuss Mannkind Corp.’s Afrezza, when the FDA’s Jean-Marc Guettier thanked everyone at the meeting for showing up on the first of April. But Mannkind officials had to be pinching themselves when the advisory committee (adcom) members came squarely down on the side of the drug for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Read More
With its once-yearly implanted-pump exenatide in phase III FREEDOM trials for type 2 diabetes, Intarcia Therapeutics Inc. became the highest-valued privately held biotech in the history of the industry by way of a $200 million financing that includes $57 million from the Foresite Capital Fund II, a growth equity stash designed to back firms “when we know things are working,” said managing director Christine Aylward. Read More
