Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Tel Aviv, Israel, began screening patients in the U.S. and Latin America for its phase IIb study of aramchol, an oral, arachidic acid-cholic acid conjugate in development for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis patients who also suffer from obesity and insulin resistance. Read More
Nascent Biotech Inc., of San Diego, said it has manufactured enough product to complete initial phase I/II trials of pritumumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody, in brain cancers, with more than adequate amounts left over to initiate trials in other epithelial cancers such as breast, lung, colon and pancreas. Read More
Cardiome Pharma Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, closed a bought deal financing of 2.875 million common shares at $8 apiece for gross proceeds of $23 million. Read More
Roche AG wove a deal worth up to $425 million for Geneweave Biosciences Inc., a private U.S. diagnostics firm with technology aimed at fighting drug-resistant bacteria, which is considered one of health care's biggest threats. Read More
Ion channels are considered highly druggable targets, and about 20 percent of FDA-approved drugs target ion channels, but their role in cancer remains less explored than in many other indications. Read More
Slapping back at Allergan plc, a venture capital fund is defending its right to try to invalidate the drugmaker's remaining patent on a glaucoma drug by taking advantage of the lower "patent-killing" standard of an inter partes review (IPR) before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB). Read More
Propelled by a $40 million series A, Rhythm Metabolic Inc. will seek to pick up the tempo for RM-493 (setmelanotide), a peptide melanocortin-4 (MC4) agonist designed to treat obesity caused by genetic deficiencies in the MC4 pathway. Read More
Reviving hopes for its experimental dendritic cell-based vaccine, ICT-107, Immunocellular Therapeutics Ltd. said it expects to soon begin enrolling newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients in a registrational phase III trial under a special protocol assessment (SPA) freshly agreed with the FDA. Read More
