An FDA advisory panel's vote puts Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc. ahead – for 24 hours, if not more – in the race for a drug that treats the rare genetic disease of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). Read More
Cebix Inc., of La Jolla, Calif., closed a $30.9 million Series B investment to support development of its investigational drug for peripheral neuropathy, Ersatta. It also reported new results from a Phase I/II trial showing the drug had efficacy in patients with Type I diabetes dosed once weekly for 12 weeks. Read More
LONDON – A better understanding of the molecular and cellular interactions that help to trigger inflammatory bowel disease in mice could one day lead to new ways of treating conditions such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in humans. Read More
Covagen AG signed its first drug discovery deal, a pact worth potentially up to €112.25 million (US$146 million) with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. that involves its Fynomer protein scaffold technology. Read More
• ElexoPharm GmbH, of Saarbruecken, Germany, said it will perform lead finding and lead optimization based on molecular modeling, design and synthesis of biological active compounds, under a EuroTransBio grant of €1.5 million (US$1.98 million). The three-year project will allow the development of low-molecular-weight inhibitors of angiogenesis in colorectal cancer in collaboration with SomantiX BV, VU University Medical Center, Saarland University and PharmBioTec GmbH. Read More
• Neuralstem Inc., of Rockville, Md., said it started dosing in the second cohort of patients in its Phase Ib trial testing NSI-189 in major depressive disorder. The study is enrolling 24 patients, and the Phase Ib portion is expected to take about six months to complete. NSI-189 is a small molecule designed to stimulate new neuron growth in the hippocampus. Read More
• Pfizer Inc., of New York, said a Phase III study of Inlyta (axitinib) did not meet its primary endpoint of demonstrating statistically significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) vs. Nexavar (sorafenib, Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Bayer AG) in treatment-naïve patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. Read More
