With a "cosmetically elegant" topical therapy, Pellepharm Inc. CEO Sanuj Ravindran told BioWorld that his firm is hoping to exploit the upside of hedgehog inhibition demonstrated so well by Erivedge (vismodegib, Roche Holding AG) while avoiding the downside of a systemic therapy with that mechanism of action in basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Read More
Just months after Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) acquired global rights to emapalumab from Swiss developer Novimmune SA in a CHF450 million (US$453 million) deal, the companies have won an on-time FDA approval for the ultra-rare disease therapy. Branded as Gamifant, Sobi will market it for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with the life-threatening inflammatory condition primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) who have refractory, recurrent or progressive disease or intolerance to conventional therapies. It's the first and only FDA-approved therapy for the indication. Read More
HAMBURG, Germany – U.S. med-tech giant Boston Scientific Corp. has agreed to buy London-based interventional medical device and acute care pharmaceutical company British Technology Group plc (BTG) in a cash deal valued at £3.3 billion (US$4.2 billion). Read More
Roivant Sciences Ltd. has agreed to pay Gyeonggi-do, South Korea-based Intron Biotechnology Inc. up to $667.5 million for global rights to an experimental therapy for treating infectious diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant staphylococci. The deal, focused on Intron's tonabacase (SAL-200), positions the Basel, Switzerland-based company to begin a phase II trial of SAL-200 in 2019, it said. Read More
Want to figure out how to manipulate a cell? See how other cells do it. That, in a nutshell, is the premise underlying the biomedical use of exosomes, small packets of – well, of lots of different things. Read More
HONG KONG – Denovo Biopharma LLC, a cross-border biotech registered in San Diego and Hangzhou, China, has been granted IND approval by Chinese regulators to conduct international multicenter clinical trials for its neuroscience drug, DB-103 (pomaglumetad). If successful, DB-103 could prove a heavyweight product in the schizophrenia space. Read More
BioWorld's offices will be closed in observance of Thanksgiving in the U.S. No issue will be published Thursday, Nov. 22, or Friday, Nov. 23. Read More
Xoma Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., said it has begun a rights offering that aims to raise approximately $20 million in gross proceeds. Holders of the company's common stock and series X preferred stock on Nov. 16, are entitled to purchase up to 1.53 million shares of common stock at a subscription price equal to $13 each. Read More
Bioinvent International AB, of Lund, Sweden, said it has signed a manufacturing agreement with an undisclosed U.S. cell therapy company for the production of cGMP-compliant material to support its clinical development programs. The manufacturing agreement is expected to generate revenue of approximately $1.5 million, mainly in 2019. No other terms of the deal were released. Read More
