The buyout of Talon Therapeutics Inc. by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $11.3 million in cash up front and contingent value rights (CVRs) for up to $195 million indicate that the earnout deal remains alive and well in biotech. Read More
Eye disease specialist Ophthotech Corp. became the 30th biotech this year to pursue an initial public offering (IPO), seeking to raise $85 million, according to its Form S-1 filed with the SEC Friday. The company did not disclose the number of shares or price range in the offering. Read More
Following a 1-for-52 reverse stock split of common shares traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Sophiris Bio Inc., of La Jolla, Calif., slashed its planned public offering price from $13 per share to $5 per share, while increasing the number of shares offered to maintain a target of $65 million in gross proceeds. Read More
Crushing debt forced Unigene Laboratories Inc. into bankruptcy earlier this year, but its promising Peptelligence delivery technology has found a new home in start-up Enteris Biopharma Inc., which launched recently to develop oral formulations of both peptide drugs and currently injectable-only small molecules. Read More
With $25 million pledged from a stock sale to institutional investors, rare-disease specialist Retrophin Inc. signed a deal with an unidentified pharma firm for an option to license its autism/schizophrenia drug and said plans for a potentially pivotal trial are on track for RE-021, the firm's dual-acting receptor antagonist of angiotensin and endothelin receptors, as a therapy for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSG). Read More
Alzheimer's disease is characterized – among other things – by a dramatic upregulation of the complement cascade, as well as by massive loss of neural connection points or synapses. Read More
• Cadence Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a non-final, initial office action in the ex parte reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 6,028,222, or the '222 patent, one of the two licensed patents covering Ofirmev (acetaminophen) injection. Read More
• Prosonix, of Oxford, UK, completed patient dosing and follow-up in a Phase II study of PXS1002, a suspension formulation of long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), glycopyrronium bromide, which is being developed for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Read More
• The FDA approved Glaxosmithkline plc's Flulaval Quadrivalent (Influenza Virus Vaccine) for immunization of people older than 3 for seasonal influenza virus subtypes A and B. Flulaval is the London-based GSK's second intramuscular quadrivalent vaccine approved by the FDA. Read More
Scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have discovered why amplifications of certain parts of chromosomes 17 and 20 are associated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer. Read More
