LONDON – International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) reported strong returns for shareholders, driven by new drug approvals, high levels of merger and acquisition activity and the resilience of leading biotech companies in the current growth-stunting environment. Read More
LONDON – A protein that determines how well cells can move and spread could provide a new target for drug designers who want to prevent metastasis of cancer cells. Read More
LONDON – Summit plc is making headway with its two lead programs, winning a £4 million (US$6.42 million) translation award from the Wellcome Trust for clinical trials of SMT19969, a narrow-spectrum antibiotic for treating Clostridium difficile infections, and starting Phase II development of SMT-C1100, a treatment for Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD). Read More
Aided by a generous dollop of government cash, a French consortium of biotechnology companies and academic medical centers is investing €80 million (US$104 million) to develop an industrial-scale facility for the production of cell therapy, including stem cell therapy. Read More
Covagen AG signed its first drug discovery deal last week, a pact worth potentially up to €112.25 million (US$146 million) with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. that involves its Fynomer protein scaffold technology. Read More
The management of Dutch drug delivery specialist OctoPlus NV agreed to a €27.4 million (US$35.8 million) cash offer from Indian generics firm Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. Read More
LONDON – There's a race to market for a new generation of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drugs with Actelion Ltd. announcing it has filed for FDA approval of Opsumit (macitentan) and Bayer Healthcare revealing positive Phase III data for riociguat and promising global filings in the first half of 2013. Read More
• Chiesi Group, of Parma, Italy, said it completed a Phase I trial of inhaled PDE4 inhibitor CHF 6001 that showed the drug was well tolerated up to the highest doses administered, in single and multiple dose parts of the study. Read More
