WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court is set to consider Friday whether it wants the last word on the patentability of Myriad Genetics Inc.'s claims on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, used in diagnostics for breast and ovarian cancer. Read More
Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals Inc., an emerging biotech targeting central nervous system (CNS) disorders, raised $5.4 million in a Series A financing to advance its work on a class of molecules known as subunit selective NMDA receptor modulators (SNRMs). Read More
Researchers have been able to rapidly repair peripheral nerves after injury in rats, in part through treatments that prevent the body's own repair mechanisms from taking hold. Read More
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s underwritten public offering of 7.5 million shares at $10.75 apiece sent shares of the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech surging more than 14 percent Wednesday as investors showed their approval of its pipeline and partnering power. Read More
• RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Rockville, Md., said researchers have shown that Thymosin beta 4 provided both neuroprotection and neurorestoration in a rat model of traumatic brain injury. Compared with placebo, the drug, initiated six hours post-injury, statistically significantly improved sensorimotor functional recovery and spatial learning, reduced cortical lesion volume and hippocampal cell loss. Read More
• Redhill Biopharma Ltd., of Tel Aviv, Israel, said it started a trial of THB-102 for the prevention of nausea and vomiting in cancer patients. The bioequivalence study is designed to test the pharmacokinetic similarity between the company's once-daily, controlled-release tablet formulation of ondansetron and the market-leading anti-emetic, Zofran (ondansetron, GlaxoSmithKline plc), which must be administered several times per day. The drug was developed using technology from Bothell, Wash.-based Scolr Pharma Inc. Read More
• Pfizer Inc., of New York, said the FDA accepted for review the new drug application for tafamidis meglumine, its oral treatment for transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy, a rare, progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects about 8,000 patients worldwide. Tafimidis, which Pfizer gained through its 2010 acquisition of privately held FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., was granted a priority review and has a PDUFA date in June 2012. Last year, the drug was approved in Europe, where it's sold under the brand name Vyndaqel. Read More
• Incyte Corp., of Wilmington, Del., reported the first revenue from JAK inhibitor Jakafi (ruxolitinib), approved in November 2011 for intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis, with fourth-quarter net product revenue of $2 million, besting consensus estimates by about $1 million. Read More
• Amorcyte Inc., of New York, received U.S. Patent No. 8,088,370, covering the use of AMR-001 in the repair of any vascular injury caused by vascular insufficiency. Read More
