Less than a year after picking up several regional options to Boston Biomedical Inc.'s lead cancer stem cell drug BBI608, Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. skipped exercising those options in favor of an all-out acquisition. Read More
Rather than banking on its future royalties of Cimzia and Mircera, Nektar Therapeutics Inc. cashed them in for $124 million to pay down its $215 million convertible debt that comes due in September. Read More
Privately held Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc. increased its bandwidth by signing an exclusive licensing agreement with Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. for the global rights to develop and commercialize multiple deuterium-modified dextromethorphan (d-DM) compounds developed by Concert for neurological and psychiatric disorders, as well as certain rights to additional unspecified d-DM compounds. Read More
Given the 125 percent stock surge after last week's positive FDA panel review for obesity candidate Qnexa (phentermine/topiramate), Vivus Inc.'s plan for a public offering comes as little surprise. Read More
• Evolva Holding SA, of Reinach, Switzerland, said it has completed its project with the Army Research Office (ARO), conducted as part of the Transformational Medical Technology Initiative's mission to prevent and address biowarfare threats. Read More
• EyeGate Pharma Inc., of Waltham, Mass., said it started enrolling patients with anterior scleritis in its Phase I study of EGP-437 (dexamethasone phosphate ophthalmic solution 40 mg/mL). The randomized study will enroll up to 24 subjects with noninfectious, non-necrotizing anterior scleritis and will test the product's safety and tolerability at three ocular iontophoresis dose levels. Partial funding for the study is provided by an FDA orphan drug indication grant. Read More
• Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, expanded biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing capabilities at its cell culture and microbial sites in Biberach, Germany, and Vienna, Austria. The moves are designed to enhance cell line development with the company's Bi-Hex high-expression system and microbial strain and to expand process development services for contract manufacturing. Boehringer Ingelheim said it invested about €17 million (US$22.7 million) in the expansion, which includes current good manufacturing practice cell banking, process science, cell line development and quality laboratories. Read More
• Immunomedics Inc., of Morris Plains, N.J., was granted U.S. Patent No. 8,105,596, titled "Immunotherapy of B-cell malignancies using anti-CD22 antibodies." It covers therapeutic compositions comprising any combination of conjugated or unconjugated anti-CD20 and anti-CD22 antibodies. Read More
