Researchers at South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc., in collaboration with colleagues from Oxford University, have reported new insights into the p21-activated kinase (PAK). Read More
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. raised $77 million in a Series G to finance its full house of five clinical-stage cancer candidates, plus a trio of preclinical candidates and multiple research-stage programs. Read More
Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., reported net sales of Cubicin (daptomycin) of $153.7 million for the first quarter, up 14 percent over the same period last year. The firm posted total revenues of $162.5 million, which beat consensus estimates of $156 million. Net income totaled $22.6 million, or 38 cents per share. Read More
Pozen Inc., of Chapel Hill, N.C., said the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction ordering Par Pharmaceutical Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., not to make, use, sell, offer to sell or import into the U.S. a generic version of Treximet (sumatriptan/naproxen sodium). Treximet is sold by Pozen's partner, London-based GlaxoSmithKline plc. The order was entered in connection with the patent infringement lawsuit pending among Pozen and a handful of generic firms. Read More
Opexa Therapeutics Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, reported efficacy data showing that Tovaxin, a T-cell therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), demonstrated a significant improvement in annualized relapse rate (ARR) compared to placebo in treatment-naïve patients in the Phase IIb TERMS study. In patients who had at least one relapse in the 12 months prior to enrolling in the study and who had no previous exposure to MS therapy, Tovaxin reduced the ARR by 64 percent vs. placebo (p = 0.046). Read More
Bydureon watchers finally got some good news, as the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) voted in favor of the once-weekly version of glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist exenatide in Type II diabetes, all but ensuring the drug's final approval overseas. Read More
WASHINGTON – The biopharmaceutical industry could be one of the casualties as Congress and the president prepare the field for the battle of the 2012 budget. Read More
Halozyme Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said results in a Type I diabetes study of patients who receive their insulin treatment via pump demonstrated that Aspart-PH20, a formulation of the company's rHuPH20 (recombinant human hyaluronidase) with the active ingredient in NovoLog (aspart, Novo Nordisk A/S), accelerated insulin absorption and shortened its duration of action. Data were presented at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists meeting in San Diego. Read More
Scientists from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reported that they have found a mix of transcription factors and growth factors that will transform stem cells into heart cells, no matter what their original source. Read More
