“It’s nice to make money with people you like,” said Antoine Papiernik, managing partner at Sofinnova Partners, about the $200 million-up-front deal engineered between Clovis Oncology Inc. and Ethical Oncology Science SpA (EOS). Read More
With its latest $110 million financing, Moderna Therapeutics Inc. is rapidly closing on the half-billion-dollar mark in terms of funds raised for the 2-year-old company. The new funds bring the company’s total funds raised to $415 million, and it will end the year with about $340 million in the bank. Read More
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. isn’t above using a good trick twice. Back in 2008, the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm picked up $160 million by selling royalty rights to two Glaxosmithkline plc-marketed drugs to help push through late-stage testing with then-game-changing hepatitis C virus (HCV) drug telaprevir. Read More
With the sequestration blade set to indiscriminately shave federal programs again in January, a bipartisan group of senators is urging congressional budget negotiators to spare research dollars at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Read More
Europe’s biotechnology sector continued its good run Wednesday, with two further financings that took the week’s takings to $162 million – so far. Read More
Scientists have shown that inhibiting mTOR more than doubled the life expectancy of mice with Leigh syndrome, a disease that is most often fatal in children by the time they reach school age. Read More
• Galapagos NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, said its Biofocus subsidiary signed a new collaboration agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, to apply its drug discovery services to an undisclosed target within Boehringer’s drug discovery portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed. Read More
• Cytrx Corp., of Los Angeles, said it started a Phase II study of aldoxorubicin for the treatment of unresectable glioblastoma multiforme whose tumors have progressed following prior treatment with surgery, radiation and temozolomide. Read More
• CSL Ltd., of King of Prussia, Pa., presented data at the American Heart Association meeting in Dallas showing that CSL112 demonstrated favorable safety and tolerability when administered to patients with stable atherothrombotic disease and showed a dramatic and rapid increase in key biomarkers of reverse cholesterol transport. Read More
• Shire plc, of Dublin, said Intuniv XR (guanfacine hydrochloride extended-release tablets) is now available in Canada for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children ages 6 to 12. Read More
