DUBLIN – Novartis AG is broadening its footprint in the cell therapy space by paying $35 million to acquire a 15 percent stake in umbilical cord blood stem cell specialist Gamida Cell Ltd., along with an option to acquire the company outright for another $165 million, plus $435 million more in regulatory, development and commercial milestones. Read More
Oncothyreon Inc. shares (NASDAQ:ONTY) fell 17.3 percent to $2.30 by Tuesday's close after the company revealed that tecemotide, an immunotherapy it licensed to Merck KGaA, failed to improve overall survival or impact secondary endpoints progression-free survival, time to progression or time to failure in a phase I/II study of 178 patients with stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) conducted for Japanese regulators. Read More
LONDON – Building on FDA approval of its first human protein therapy, Pharming NV is expanding its pipeline with the €500,000 (US$666,300) cash acquisition of assets from a French company, Transgenic Rabbit Models. Read More
Globavir Biosciences Inc. formally threw its hat into the Ebola ring, making known the firm's plan to develop the preclinical candidate GBV006 as a potential remedy for the virulent outbreak in West Africa. Read More
HONG KONG – The first human trial of a new vaccine based on virus-like particles (VLPs) suggests it is safe and effective against the rapidly emerging mosquito-borne chikungunya virus, researchers reported in the Aug. 15, 2014, early online edition of The Lancet. Read More
LONDON – Kalvista Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is celebrating a double success, advancing its lead product for treating diabetic macular edema (DME) into a phase I trial in patients and announcing the closing of a £5.5 million (US$9.2 million) series B funding. Read More
Celladon Corp., of San Diego, closed its underwritten public offering of 4.6 million common shares at $9.50 per share, including 600,000 shares provided to underwriters, who exercised in full their option to fill overallotments. Read More
Anavex Life Sciences Corp., of New York, said new scientific findings indicating that the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine, a drug marketed for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder, prevents neuronal cell death resulting from endoplasmic reticulum stress through induction of sigma-1 receptor. Read More
Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, gained tentative FDA approval for their basal insulin, Basaglar (insulin glargine), to treat adults with type 2 diabetes and in combination with mealtime insulin in adults and pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes. Read More
Astrazeneca plc, of London, reported top-line results from RECLAIM-1 and RECLAIM-2, the pivotal phase III studies investigating the potential of the antibiotic ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI) as a treatment for hospitalized adult patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAIs). Read More
