It's increasingly difficult to generate a big move in shares of a big biotech, but Alzheimer's disease (AD) did the trick again for Biogen Idec Inc., which continued to report upbeat findings for aducanumab (BIIB037) at the 12th International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases and Related Neurological Disorders in Nice, France. Read More
DUBLIN – Investor appetite for European biotech shows no sign of relenting, as Malin Corp. plc and Nordic Nanovector ASA priced their respective IPOs Friday, which will take in $415 million in total. Read More
Eli Lilly and Co. is tapping China's Innovent Biologics Inc. to develop and manufacture a strategic portfolio of potential cancer therapies in one of the largest biotech collaborations between a multinational and a domestic drugmaker in China to date. Read More
The patent dance laid out in the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) is merely a temporary safe harbor that biosimilar sponsors may opt out of, a federal district judge ruled last week in denying Amgen Inc.'s request for a temporary injunction and partial summary judgment to halt the U.S. launch of Sandoz Inc.'s Zarxio, a biosimilar to Amgen's blockbuster Neupogen. Read More
Unlike Alzheimer's disease (AD), which took much of the spotlight Friday, "there's not another gene to argue over" in Parkinson's disease (PD), said CEO Dale Schenk, commenting on Prothena Corp. plc's phase I success with PRX002, which takes aim at alpha-synuclein. Read More
Genetically modified foods have the dubious distinction of being the scientific topic with the widest opinion gap between scientists and the lay public. In a report on "Public and Scientists' Views about Science and Society," 88 percent of scientists, but only 37 percent of the general public, believed that genetically modified foods were generally safe to eat. Read More
SHANGHAI – Upstart domestic biotech Ascletis Inc., with offices in the U.S. and China, is a step closer to realizing its dream of having the first effective hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment on the market in China. Read More
An annual forecast of drugs expected to debut in the coming year and eventually reach blockbuster status suggests the biopharma industry is not only alive and well but also not solely reliant on compounds that target the narrower indications implicit in precision medicine efforts. Read More
The FDA is terminating the Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee, according to a notice published in the Federal Register. No reason was given for the termination, with the notice simply stating that the committee "is no longer needed and was terminated on Feb. 15, 2015." Read More
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp., a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company developing a potentially curative regimen for chronic hepatitis B virus infection upsized its public offering to 7.5 million common shares from an earlier 6 million, priced at $20.25 per share, for gross proceeds of $151.9 million. Read More
Batu Biologics Inc., of San Diego, said the rationale and preclinical data for its immunotherapeutic product, Vallovax, was published in the Journal of Translational Medicine. Read More
Cerulean Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., reported that an ongoing phase Ib/II trial of its lead nanoparticle-drug conjugate, CRLX101, in combination with Avastin (bevacizumab, Roche AG) in relapsed renal cell carcinoma (RCC) achieved its primary endpoint of at least 50 percent of patients achieving four months of progression-free survival (PFS). Read More
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, reported phase II data showing that BI 655066 resulted in nearly double the percentage of patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis achieving clear or almost clear skin after 12 weeks of treatment, compared to Stelara (ustekinumab, Johnson & Johnson) (77.1 percent vs. 40 percent). Read More
Scientists from the German Heinrich Heine University have shown that the over-the-counter cough syrup dextromethorphan improved the function of pancreatic beta cells in mice and humans with type II diabetes. Read More
