One month after partner Napo Pharmaceuticals Inc. claimed to terminate their three-year-old collaboration to develop crofelemer for HIV-associated diarrhea, Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. plowed ahead by submitting a new drug application (NDA) for the drug to the FDA. The filing set in motion the 60-day clock for the FDA to conduct its review and determine whether to accept the NDA. Read More
Third Rock Ventures LLC said today the newest member of its portfolio, Ember Therapeutics, launched with a $34 million Series A financing. Ember will focus on discovery and development of obesity and diabetes therapeutics based on brown fat biology and new science relating to insulin sensitivity. Read More
SAN DIEGO – Broadening the repertoire of anti-angiogenesis approaches might allow the method to be used in more cancer types, and more successfully in cancer types where it's already used. Read More
More people die of lung cancer than any other cancer. In 2010, 162,460 deaths were attributed to non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and 174,470 new diagnoses were made. Surgery is the first line of defense against lung cancer, but late-stage cancer is not resectable, and chemotherapy only increases survival by four months to five months. Read More
• NeurOp Inc., of Atlanta, said New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. agreed to fund an additional year of research for NeurOp's small molecules in major depression and neuropathic pain. The funding extension continues the firms' 2009 agreement, under which BMS paid a $1.5 million licensing fee and NeurOp could receive up to $74 million in milestone payments and royalties. Read More
• Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, reported Phase I results showing that TH-302 demonstrated activity in multiple subjects with relapsed/refractory acute myelogenous leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and the maximum tolerated dose was established at 460 mg/m2. Read More
