BEIJING – Just a few days after Beigene Co. Ltd.’s CEO and co-founder John Oyler signed a second sizable deal with the Merck Serono arm of Merck KGaA – the up-front payments undisclosed, but with a promise of almost $500 million if all milestones are achieved in both – he admitted the cash removes a layer of stress: “Maybe you sleep better at night, but it’s business as usual. The deal with Merck doesn’t change the way you work or the passion.” Read More
No one will benefit from a guardian angel that safeguards investors right out of the market, the SEC was told Thursday at a small business forum on capital formation. Read More
First to benefit from a deal between Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) and Avalon Ventures that will launch as many as 10 new companies is Sitari Pharmaceuticals Inc., funded with $10 million in Series A money to pursue early work targeting the transglutaminase 2 (TG2) pathway. Read More
Two separate teams of researchers have discovered yet another way in which gut bacteria influence the health of their hosts. In mice, such bacteria played a role in the response to three separate types of cancer therapy. Germ-free mice or those treated with antibiotics had weaker responses to an experimental immunotherapy, platinum chemotherapy and cyclophosphamide, which both promotes immunogenic cell death and affects the balance of different T-cell types. Read More
• Lpath Inc., of San Diego, said it used its discovery technology to generate several monoclonal antibody product candidates targeting the leukotriene family of bioactive lipids. Leukotrienes are implicated in numerous inflammatory processes, and the company said the lead antibody, which is designed to bind to and neutralize several different leukotriene isoforms, has shown positive in vivo results and testing is under way in animal models of respiratory diseases, including asthma. Read More
• Pfizer Inc., of New York, said the FDA granted regular approval for Xalkori (crizotinib) for use in patients with metastatic ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer as detected by an FDA-approved test. Xalkori previously gained accelerated approval in August 2011. Read More
• Pfizer Inc., of New York, said it entered an agreement with Glaxosmithkline plc, of London, to explore the anticancer efficacy and safety of GSK’s trametinib (GSK1120212) combined with Pfizer’s palbociclib (PD-0332991) in a Phase I/II study in patients with advanced/metastatic melanoma. Read More
• D-Pharm Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, said it received approval from regulatory authorities in Slovakia to start a Phase II study testing DP-b99 in patients with acute high-risk inflammation of the pancreas. The trial will enroll about 30 patients who will be treated twice daily with either DP-b99 or placebo and followed up using clinical assessment scales, by monitoring inflammatory biomarkers and with abdominal imaging. Read More
