LONDON – Xention Ltd. has taken a major step forward, out-licensing its atrial fibrillation treatment XEN-DO103 in a $163 million-plus joint development agreement in which the UK biotech will retain full rights to the product in the U.S. and Japan. Read More

LONDON – It is now possible to measure the activity of a multitude of genes in thousands of cells at once. The new method means that researchers will be able to rapidly detect differences in gene activity among the many cells of a tumor, for example, or among those of a tissue, whether healthy or diseased. Read More

Merus BV enticed Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. (JJDC) to join existing investors Novartis Venture Fund and Pfizer Venture Investments for a big pharma trifecta in a €31 million (US$42 million) extension to its Series B financing. Read More

SHANGHAI – While it works to maintain its dominant market share, the U.S.-based maker of Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) has licensed a promising neurotoxin from a South Korean company. Read More

SHANGHAI – A well-established French biotech company is working with one of China’s most authoritative state drug discovery organizations to develop a drug that could help the country tackle the growing incidence of breast cancer. Read More

The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Sudhof “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.” Read More

• Opsona Therapeutics Ltd., of Dublin, said it has raised an additional €3 million (US$4 million) in a second closing of its Series C equity financing from new investor Omnes Capital. Read More