Top-line results from a Phase III trial showed that Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s ridaforolimus has promise as a treatment for metastatic soft-tissue or bone sarcoma. In the trial designated SUCCEED, carried out under a special protocol assessment granted by the FDA, there was a 28 percent reduction in the risk of progression compared to placebo, and a 21 percent (or 3.1 week) improvement in progression-free survival. Read More
Domain Therapeutics SA sealed a collaboration potentially worth €134 million (US$179.6 million) plus royalties for a discovery-stage program targeting a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) implicated in Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Read More
Researchers reported new insights this week into an SNP that shows its carriers are at increased risk of developing heart failure. The protein that contains the SNP within its sequence does not affect the risk of heart failure – and the nearby, linked protein that does affect heart failure risk is not expressed in the heart. Instead, it codes for a chloride channel that is expressed in the kidneys. Read More
Focusing on ophthalmic diseases with its portfolio of small-molecule nerve growth factor (NGF) mimetic compounds, Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. is capitalizing on a large, relatively underserved medical market that is growing at about twice the rate of the general pharmaceutical sector: ophthalmology. Read More
Uluru Inc., of Addison, Texas, closed a registered direct offering of 5 million shares at 10 cents per share, for gross proceeds of $500,000. Read More
Curefaktor Pharmaceuticals LLC, of Buffalo, N.Y., received orphan drug designation from the FDA for lead compound CFAK-C4 in pancreatic cancer. Read More
Diamyd Medical AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, dosed the first patient in a Phase II trial of its NP2 Enkephalin candidate aimed at reducing cancer pain. The trial will recruit about 32 subjects with severe cancer pain and will follow their pain scores and concomitant opioid pain medication usage. Read More
Omni Bio Pharmaceutical Inc., of Denver, has received U.S. Patent No. 7,807,781 titled "Inhibitors of Serine Protease Activity and Their Use in Methods and Compositions for Treatment of Viral Infections." Read More
