LONDON – U.K. ambitions to become number three in the global biotech rankings were boosted by record fundraising in 2015, with unprecedented levels of investment in public and private financings, according to an analysis published Thursday by the Bioindustry Association (BIA). Read More
Rgenix Inc., a start-up from the Rockefeller University lab of co-founder and scientific advisor Sohail Tavazoie, landed a $33 million series B financing led by Novo A/S and Sofinnova Partners. Existing investors, including the Partnership Fund for New York City, Alexandria Venture Investments and Conegliano Ventures LP, also participated. Read More
Antibiotic developer Allecra Therapeutics GmbH has raised €22 million (US$24.7 million) in a series B round to fully fund phase II trials for AAI202, a combination of a beta-lactam antibiotic together with a proprietary, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase inhibitor designed to treat gram-negative multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. Read More
HONG KONG – Alecensa (alectinib, Genentech/Roche AG) has been shown to be safe and effective in Asian patients, having shown superiority to the ALK Inhibitor Xalkori (crizotinib, Pfizer Inc.), in a phase III trial as a first-line treatment in Japanese patients with advanced or recurrent ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Read More
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Wednesday released a report advising the FDA to develop and document measurable goals to assess its progress in advancing regulatory science. Read More
Mount Tam Biotechnologies Inc., of Novato, Calif., said it arranged for up to $5 million in new debt financing from existing investor and note holder BC Ltd. Read More
Celgene Corp., of Summit, N.J., said the board authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $3 billion of the company's common stock. The open-ended program is effective immediately. Celgene now has a total of about $5.3 billion available from previous authorizations plus the new authorization. Since 2009, Celgene has returned about $15.2 billion to shareholders through the repurchase program, the company said. Read More
Apogenix GmbH, of Heidelberg, Germany, reported final top-line results from a phase I trial of APG101, a fully human fusion protein, in low to intermediate-1 risk transfusion-dependent patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), showing the drug was well-tolerated and efficiently stimulated erythropoiesis. Read More
