• Biostar Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Xianyang, China, via its Xhaanxi Winan subsidiary, has been selected to exclusively supply Huanghangning tablets, for cardiovascular disease, to all hospitals in Liaoning, Hebei, and Shandong for up to three years. Previously, it had sold its products to local pharmacies and pharmaceutical distributors. Read More
• Asubio Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Paramus, N.J., started a Phase II trial of SUN13837, a therapy designed to improve neurological function in patients with newly diagnosed acute spinal cord injury. The company is working with 60 acute trauma centers throughout the U.S. and Canada to enroll 164 patients in the randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Read More
• Oligomerix Inc., of New York, raised $2 million in Series A funding through the issuance of new convertible preferred shares and debt conversion. Wheatley MedTech Partners LP, Wheatley New York Partners LP and Durand Venture Associates LLC were the lead investors. Proceeds will advance Oligomerix's preclinical tau protease inhibitor program for Alzhiemer's disease. Oligomerix is developing a compound-screening assay to identify disease modifying small-molecule drugs and antibody-based therapeutics targeting tau oligomers and their proteolytic activity. Read More
Using yeast as a model system, scientists have gained new insights into the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on cells. Read More
The FDA got an earful Monday at a hearing on how to best modernize clinical trials and good clinical practice (GCP), but most of the ideas have been on the table for many years, one stakeholder pointed out. Read More
Following a weekend poster presentation that confused some investors, Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. clarified on Monday that all patients who completed a 24-week regimen involving its hepatitis C virus (HCV) drug ACH-1625 had undetectable levels of HCV RNA – yet the company's stock continued a downward slide throughout the day. Read More
After more than a year of evaluating ways to access U.S. shareholders, Aussie biotech Biota Holdings Ltd. settled on a merger with Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Inc.Nabi became a Nasdaq-listed cash shell following last year's Phase III failure of smoking cessation vaccine NicVAX. Despite encouraging Phase IIb data, the vaccine failed to improve abstinence from cigarettes in two Phase III trials. Nabi's stock plunged, and the Rockville, Md.-based biotech hired Piper Jaffray to explore strategic alternatives. (See BioWorld Today, July 19, 2011.) Read More
Pharmaceutical companies rich in cash and facing multiple looming drug patent expirations are getting serious about refilling their pipelines with late-stage biotech products, in many cases through acquisitions valued at $1 billion or more. Having weathered a period of caution and austerity triggered by the worldwide economic downturn, the pharma industry is on a full-out shopping spree for biotech pipeline value. Read More
• OrbiMed Advisors, of New York, launched a $222 million fund, OrbiMed Israel Partners LP, to focus on life sciences venture capital opportunities based in Israel. The fund is anchored by an investment from the government of Israel, which also provided special economic terms through the initial tender process for the fund. Read More
