Capitalizing on the rising tide of investor enthusiasm for biopharma, investment firm Frazier Healthcare closed its seventh venture fund, surpassing its $300 million target by more than 25 percent with commitments of $377 million. Read More
Myriad Genetics Inc. will return for a repeat engagement of its Phase I collaboration with Biomarin Pharmaceuticals Inc. to deliver BRAC testing for Biomarin’s pivotal Phase III trials of BMN 673. BMN 673 is an oral poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor designed to kill BRCA-deficient cancer cells. Read More
Mention autologous cell therapy and Dendreon Corp.’s commercially challenged prostate cancer vaccine Provenge (sipuleucel-T) usually comes first to mind. Despite an innovative scientific approach – using a patient’s own cells in a personalized treatment – the product’s sales have been hampered by manufacturing complexity, reimbursement issues and increasing competition in the prostate cancer space, so much so that even the much-awaited European approval provoked little excitement. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 18, 2013.) Read More
By using modern sequencing methods to look at two strains of rats that either prefer or abhor alcohol, researchers have identified a glutamate receptor that has an early stop codon and so is for all intents and purposes missing in the drinkers. Read More
• Macrogenics Inc., of Rockville, Md., set terms for its initial public offering of 4 million shares at $14 to $16 per share. The offering is expected to raise about $60 million to support the company’s pipeline of monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune disease. Read More
• An in vivo study by Biothera Inc., of Eagan, Minn., showed that Imprime PGG enhances the antitumor function of immune cells and directs a percentage of them to the tumor microenvironment. Imprime PGG is designed as an immunomodulator and is being developed for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Read More
• Durata Therapeutics Inc., of Chicago, presented a comprehensive review of the efficacy, safety and microbiology data of lead candidate, dalbavancin, in acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections. Read More
• Ipsen SA, of Paris, will reorganize its executive committee to develop specialty care by setting up two new divisions, specialty care franchises and specialty care commercial operations. Read More
