• Antares Pharma Inc., of Ewing, N.J, said it inked an exclusive promotion and marketing agreement with Leo Pharma A/S, of Ballerup, Denmark, for detailing Otrexup (methotrexate) to dermatologists for symptomatic control of severe recalcitrant psoriasis in adults. Read More
• Stemline Therapeutics Inc., of New York, disclosed five presentations to be presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Read More
• Gentium SpA, of Villa Guardia, Italy, said defibrotide was designated an orphan drug for the treatment of hepatic veno-occlusive disease in Australia. Read More
An antibiotic that was once dropped from clinical development because bacteria quite easily develop genetic resistance to it may get a second lease on life – because as part of a combination therapy, it can kill so-called bacterial persisters in biofilms. Read More
Shares in Paion AG surged more than 40 percent Thursday on news that its fast-acting anesthetic remimazolam hit the primary endpoint of a Phase II/III trial conducted by its Japanese partner, Osaka-based Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and demonstrated a better cardiovascular safety profile than a widely used control drug. Read More
A federal judge cut short the first patent dance involving a biosimilar, calling it premature. Judge Maxine Chesney denied Sandoz Inc.’s request for declaratory judgment that the Enbrel (etanercept) biosimilar it’s developing doesn’t infringe two patents owned by Roche AG and exclusively licensed to Amgen Inc. Read More
Lightstone Ventures led a $32.4 million Series B round for Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc., designed to complete a Phase II study of lead compound CAT-2003, currently under way in hypertriglyceridemia and in combination with statins in hypercholesterolemia. Read More
Epizyme Inc.’s Phase I study, designed mainly to determine the safety of EPZ-5676, an inhibitor of the DOT1L histone methyltransferase (HMT) for the treatment of acute leukemia with rearrangements in the mixed lineage leukemia gene (MLL-r), ended up showing treatment effects in four of eight patients. Read More
• Astrazeneca plc, of London, said it will conduct two new trials designed to build scientific understanding of Brilinta (ticagrelor) tablets in additional high-risk patient populations. One trial involves 9,600 patients who have experienced an acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack. Read More
