The decision by the U.S. District Court in Delaware to issue a permanent injunction against the manufacturing or sale of Praluent (alirocumab) in the U.S. dented shares of developers Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. while giving a bit of a boost to competitor Amgen Inc., which markets the competing PCSK9 antibody, Repatha (evolocumab). Read More
DUBLIN – European biotech firms engaged in drug development raised an aggregate $3.789 billion in equity funding during 2016, down almost 23 percent on the previous year's total of $4.913 billion. Read More
Vir Biotechnology Inc., a new enterprise pursuing infectious disease therapies with immunology ideas popularized by cancer fighters, is launching under the leadership of departing Biogen Inc. CEO George Scangos. Robert Nelsen, whose Arch Venture Partners is leading a $150 million investment with additional funds coming from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Read More
Regulatory progress in a little-understood blood disease with no established treatment put juice into shares of Stemline Therapeutics Inc., which nailed down a swift pathway for phase II, interleukin 3 receptor-targeting SL-401. Read More
Early cancer screening startup Grail could raise more than $1 billion in a series B round, making it in one of the largest financings in med-tech history. Grail said the funding would be used to develop a blood-based test for cancer screening. In addition, part of the funding would be used to repurchase a portion of Illumina Inc.'s stake in Grail. Read More
The approach to translocation-driven tumors, which result from the fusion of two genes that are normally separate, always tends to use the same playbook, Ali Shilatifard told BioWorld Today. Read More
HONG KONG – Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) will partner with Suzhou-based Pegbio Co. Ltd. to develop glucokinase activator (GKA) drugs for China as part of the multinational's strategy of using local partners to further the development of innovative drugs that address unmet needs in China. Read More
Cavion Inc., of Charlottesville, Va., said it closed a $26.1 million venture financing co-led by Lilly Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund, in tandem with Enso Ventures and existing investors. Read More
Xenetic Biosciences Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said it received a $3 million milestone payment from Shire plc, of Dublin, following advancement of the PSA-recombinant SHP656, or factor VIII (fVIII), into a phase I/IIa study in hemophilia. Read More
DS Biopharma, of Dublin, said that recruitment has begun in two separate phase IIb atopic dermatitis (AD) studies with its lead compound, DS107. The study in 300 moderate to severe AD patients is recruiting at sites in the U.S. A topical DS107 phase IIb study in 300 mild to moderate AD patients also is recruiting at sites in Canada and the U.S. Read More
Using solid-state NMR (ssNMR), researchers have shown that there are structural variations in amyloid fibrils that differ between different subtypes of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Read More
