BioWorld International articles from July 2003

BioWorld International archives from July 2003

UK government initiates broad, 50m [pounds sterling] program in area of genetics.
July 2, 2003... LONDON -- The UK government announced a 50 million [pounds sterling] (US$83 million) program over the next three years to expand the use of genetic testing in the National Health Service (NHS), with the aim of making the UK a leader in...

Researchers discover gene with implications in ovarian cancer.
July 2, 2003... LONDON -- The discovery of a gene that is switched off in the majority of ovarian cancers could lead to new strategies for early diagnosis of the disease and, researchers hope, powerful new drugs to treat the disease. When scientists...

Zealand, Aventis enter $100m pact to develop diabetes drug.
July 2, 2003... Danish therapeutic peptide specialist Zealand Pharmaceuticals A/S licensed its candidate Type II diabetes treatment ZP10 to Aventis SA in a deal worth up to US$100 million in milestones plus additional royalties on product sales. The...

Karolinska Institute establishes fund for early stage spinouts.
July 2, 2003... The Karolinska Institute, Sweden's renowned biomedical research facility and home of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, established an SEK100 million (US$12.5 million) fund to seed early stage firms spun out of research at the center....

G10 paper calls for changes, balance in EU debate on drugs.
July 2, 2003... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A new strategy paper from the European Union places "great emphasis on the fostering of biotechnology." The document, the latest attempt by the EU to promote pharmaceutical innovation without sending health insurance...

Cerep cites weak economy, dollar in lowering guidance.
July 2, 2003... PARIS -- Cerep SA issued a profit warning revising down its revenue and earnings forecasts for 2003 in view of the "difficult economic environment" and the "change in the dollar-euro exchange rate." When it reported its results for 2002 in...

Irish universities join venture to develop peptide antibiotics.
July 2, 2003... Virtual Drug Development Inc. (VDDI) formed a joint venture with two Northern Ireland universities, Queen's University Belfast (QUB) and the University of Ulster, Coleraine, to develop novel peptide-based antibiotics. The new company,...

Meristem, Stallergenes partner for production of allergens.(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... PARIS -- Meristem Therapeutics and Stallergenes SA entered a collaboration to evaluate the industrial feasibility of producing two major mite allergens in plants and then establishing industrial-scale facilities for their production. Under...

Amrad, Merck enter alliance apparently focused on asthma.(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... SYDNEY, Australia -- The share price of Amrad Ltd. surged 40 percent after the company announced a licensing deal with pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J. Neither company would say just what the deal involved,...

FDA Commissioner spells out plans for shoring up agency. (BIO 2003 Convention).
July 2, 2003... WASHINGTON -- The FDA will update its regulations in a bid to reduce the time taken to get a drug approved by 10 percent or more, cutting the total investment needed to develop a new treatment by $12 million, FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan...

Antisoma plc, of London, said it was starting recruitment of a second Phase I study of R1550 (formerly Therex) in breast cancer. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Antisoma plc, of London, said it was starting recruitment of a second Phase I study of R1550 (formerly Therex) in breast cancer. The U.S. dose-ranging study follows a study in the UK that showed R1550 was well tolerated in breast cancer...

Aptanomics SA. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Aptanomics SA, of Lyon, France, appointed Michael Courtney chairman and CEO, to succeed John Hawken, who oversaw the start-up and early stage development of the company. Courtney previously was CEO of Noxxon Pharma AG, of Berlin, and before...

Cytos Biotechnology AG. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Cytos Biotechnology AG, of Zurich, Switzerland, plans to move its antismoking candidate vaccine, Nicotine-Qbeta (CYT002-NicQb), into a Phase II trial in the fourth quarter, following successful completion of a Phase I clinical study involving...

Evotec OAI AG, of Hamburg, Germany, entered a deal with Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG, of Munich, Germany, to design and synthesize small-molecule lead structures for one of Axxima's prime kinase targets. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Evotec OAI AG, of Hamburg, Germany, entered a deal with Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG, of Munich, Germany, to design and synthesize small-molecule lead structures for one of Axxima's prime kinase targets. The contract calls for Evotec to use its...

U.S. must get behind stem cell research for science to take off. (BIO 2003 Convention).
July 2, 2003... WASHINGTON -- Stem cell therapy stands no chance of commercial success until private investors are confident that the correct legal, ethical and regulatory environment is in place in the U.S. That despite the blandishments of countries like the...

Genmab A/S. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, filed a clinical trial application in Europe to start an open-label Phase I/II clinical study of HuMax-EGFr for head and neck cancer. The company aims to recruit fewer than 40 patients and will work with...

GW Pharmaceuticals plc, of Salisbury, UK, is raising 19.8 million [pounds sterling] (US$31.6 million) before expenses through a placing of 9.9 million shares at 2 [pounds sterling] per share, to pay for additional Phase III studies of the company's cannabis-based drugs. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * GW Pharmaceuticals plc, of Salisbury, UK, is raising 19.8 million [pounds sterling] (US$31.6 million) before expenses through a placing of 9.9 million shares at 2 [pounds sterling] per share, to pay for additional Phase III studies of the...

Inpharmatica Ltd., of London, will acquire certain UK assets of ArQule Inc., of Woburn, Mass., giving the bioinformatics company access to drug discovery skills. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Inpharmatica Ltd., of London, will acquire certain UK assets of ArQule Inc., of Woburn, Mass., giving the bioinformatics company access to drug discovery skills. The deal includes 15 employees, laboratories in Cambridge, and intellectual...

Wilex begins clinical testing of product for biliary cancers.
July 2, 2003... MUNICH, Germany -- Biliary cancers, such as gall bladder carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma, only affect two to four out of 100,000 people, but the diagnosis is often fatal. The tumors usually are detected very late, and patients with biliary...

Lund University. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Lund University in Sweden received SEK20 million (US$2.5 million) from the London-based Marit and Hans Rausing Charitable Foundation to develop new methods for treating malignant brain tumors. Leif Salford, head of neurosurgery at the...

Micromet AG. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Micromet AG, of Munich, Germany, published positive results from two preclinical studies on a drug candidate intended for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia in adults in developed countries. The...

NeuroSearch A/S. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * NeuroSearch A/S, of Ballerup, Denmark, said it obtained promising preclinical data for the anticancer compound Endovion (NS3728), and it is now considering a Phase II trial and is looking for a development partner. The compound, which blocks...

Philogen Srl, of Siena, Italy, licensed an antibody-based fusion protein in development for cancer to Schering AG, of Berlin. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Philogen Srl, of Siena, Italy, licensed an antibody-based fusion protein in development for cancer to Schering AG, of Berlin. Terms were not disclosed, but Schering gained worldwide marketing exclusivity. Philogen officials declined...

Phytopharm plc. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Phytopharm plc, of Godmanchester, UK, entered an agreement with Oxford University to manage a Phase II study of PYM50028, a novel oral treatment for dementias, including Alzheimer's disease. Under the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and...

Proteome Sciences plc. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * Proteome Sciences plc, of Cobham, UK, announced a placing with institutional investors to raise 5.8 million [pounds sterling] (US$9.3 million). The money will be used to advance the commercialization of Proteome's protein biomarkers in...

German Ministry for Education and Research. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... * The German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Research Society launched a research center in Goettingen specializing in the molecular physiology of the brain. The center, which unites about 50 research groups, is...

UK consolidation continues as British Biotech, Vernalis merging.
July 9, 2003... LONDON -- UK biotechnology reached the end of an era last week with the announcement that British Biotech plc will take over Vernalis plc in an agreed-to 48 million [pounds sterling] (US$79.7 million) deal, ditching the British Biotech moniker...

Belgian researchers find role for VEGF in protecting neurons.
July 9, 2003... LONDON -- A molecule that stimulates the growth of new blood vessels may provide a treatment for a neurodegenerative disease of humans called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Researchers in Belgium said they already have shown that the...

Ribopharma, Alnylam merge RNAi programs, gain financing.
July 9, 2003... MUNICH, Germany -- A trans-Atlantic merger marks a bid for a dominant position in the emerging field of therapeutic RNA interference. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and Ribopharma AG, of Kulmbach, Germany, joined forces...

Speedel Group raises CHF52.1m through debt, equity financing.
July 9, 2003... Swiss cardiovascular and metabolic drug development firm Speedel Group raised CHF52.1 million (US$38.7 million) in a mezzanine financing round comprising a convertible loan of CHF49 million and equity investment of CHF3.1 million. The company...

BresaGen sues research group after cancer data not duplicated.
July 9, 2003... SYDNEY, Australia -- BresaGen Ltd. is suing a government research organization for an amount greater than A$7 million (US$4.8 million), alleging it was misled over test results for an anticancer drug. BresaGen, of Adelaide, has started an...

Astex Technology Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, said its research collaboration with AstraZeneca AB using high-throughput X-ray crystallography to solve the structure of human cytochrome P450, will be extended three years. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... Astex Technology Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, said its research collaboration with AstraZeneca AB using high-throughput X-ray crystallography to solve the structure of human cytochrome P450, will be extended three years. Financial details were not...

BioTissue Technologies AG. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... BioTissue Technologies AG, of Freiburg, Germany, applied for bankruptcy protection. The company reported that advanced negotiations with investors to buy additional shares, as part of a capital increase approved by BioTissue's board in June,...

Curacyte AG. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... Curacyte AG, of Munich, Germany, received FDA permission to begin a Phase I study of pyridoxalated hemoglobin polyoxyethylene (PHP) as an adjunct to high-dose interleukin-2 therapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma or melanoma....

Arexis brings in SEK63m to advance preclinical programs.
July 9, 2003... Arexis AB, a Swedish drug discovery firm focused on metabolic disease and inflammation, raised SEK63 million (US$7.9 million) in a second financing round led by Industrifonden (the Swedish Industrial Development Fund), of Stockholm. ...

Inovio secures $2m U.S. Army deal for gene delivery platform.
July 9, 2003... Norwegian firm Inovio AS secured a US$2 million U.S. Army deal to further develop its gene delivery technology, Elgen, which relies on the introduction to muscle cells of bacterial plasmid DNA using a proprietary electroporation method. ...

PamGene raises 10m [euro] for second-generation microarrays.
July 9, 2003... Dutch biotechnology firm PamGene International BV, which is developing a second-generation microarray platform, raised 10 million [euro] in a financing round led by LCF Rothschild Venture Partners, of Paris. Existing investors Alta...

CeNeS moving to alternative exchange as market cap dips.(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... LONDON -- The roster of biotechnology companies on London's main market is shrinking further with the announcement by CeNeS Pharmaceuticals plc that it is moving its listing to the junior Alternative Investment Market. The company, based...

Tough new GMO labeling rules could end approval moratorium. (European Union Roundup).(d)
July 9, 2003... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Parliament last week insisted on tough norms for genetically modified food and feed and traceability and labeling of GM organisms. Although the move will mean tighter controls on the industry, it could at the...

Mologen AG. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... Mologen AG, of Berlin, published positive results from a Phase II test of the company's immunomodulator dSLIM in combination with chemotherapy for patients with metastasized colon cancer. The patients in the study did not show any side effects,...

Xenova touts new class of cancer agents, starts Phase I.
July 9, 2003... LONDON -- Xenova Group plc said it discovered a novel DNA-targeting agent, XR5944, with potency that far exceeds that of the two major classes of DNA-interactive cytotoxics used in cancer chemotherapy. Such is the excitement that the...

NeuroSearch A/S. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... NeuroSearch A/S, of Ballerup, Denmark, said it successfully concluded a Phase I clinical program of NS2359, which is in development for treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The compound, which is thought to enhance the...

NovusPharma SpA, of Milan, Italy, plans to move pixantrone into a Phase II trial for treatment of relapsed, aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, following promising data obtained from an open-label Phase I combination study involving 19 patients. (Other News To Note).
July 9, 2003... NovusPharma SpA, of Milan, Italy, plans to move pixantrone into a Phase II trial for treatment of relapsed, aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, following promising data obtained from an open-label Phase I combination study involving 19 patients....

Onyvax Ltd. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... Onyvax Ltd., of London, presented interim data from a Phase IIa trial of it Onyvax-P prostate cancer vaccine, showing that 20 out of 26 evaluable patients who previously failed hormone therapy showed no evidence of clinical deterioration. The...

Oxford BioMedica plc. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... Oxford BioMedica plc, of Oxford, UK, disclosed interim data from a Phase I/II trial of its gene therapy product MetXia in treating breast cancer. The trial is using an improved formulation of the product, which is intended to improve gene...

Oy Jurilab Ltd. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... Oy Jurilab Ltd., of Kupio, Finland, licensed its new drug metabolism enzyme (DME) test, a microarray-based genetic test designed to screen participants in clinical trials, to Orion Corp. of Espoo, Finland. The test detects the presence of...

SkyePharma plc, of London, said Phase III trials began of an oral, controlled-release version of Requip, GlaxoSmithKline plc's Parkinson's disease treatment. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... SkyePharma plc, of London, said Phase III trials began of an oral, controlled-release version of Requip, GlaxoSmithKline plc's Parkinson's disease treatment. The daily formulation uses SkyePharma's Geomatrix drug delivery technology.

Xcellsyz Ltd. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 9, 2003... Xcellsyz Ltd., of Newcastle, UK, said it received a 500,000 [pounds sterling] (US$824,347) second-tranche investment from existing investors after it hit certain milestones agreed to in September 2002.The company, which uses conditionally...

Medivir, Boehringer Ingelheim enter potential 122M [euro] alliance.
July 16, 2003... As he put it himself, Medivir AB CEO Lars Adlersson had "two reasons to celebrate" Tuesday. The drug discovery company he leads had just signed its largest deal ever, a pact potentially worth 122 million [euro] with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH to...

Trinity biotech raises US$20M by placing convertible notes.
July 16, 2003... DUBLIN, Ireland -- Irish diagnostics firm Trinity Biotech plc joined the summer funding spree, raising US$20 million in a private placing of convertible notes with three undisclosed U.S. institutions. The notes, which bear interest at 3...

SARS virus has good targets for drug makers, study shows.
July 16, 2003... LONDON -- The SARS epidemic apparently may be over, but the search for drugs to combat the coronavirus that causes this new infectious disease has just begun. A team in Germany has just published the first examination of how the proteins...

Igeneon presents antibody data, keeps eye out for IPO window.
July 16, 2003... MUNICH, Germany -- An Austrian firm has found that its antibody against targets for epithelial cancers is more effective than originally believed. Presenting results at the 94th annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research...

Nautilus Biotech raises 4M [euro] for work in proteins, cell lines.
July 16, 2003... PARIS -- Nautilus Biotech, which specializes in the production of improved proteins, vaccines, enzymes and cell lines, has completed a second funding round in which it raised 4 million [euro] from four Paris-based venture capital funds. ...

10 Israeli-American projects funded by BIRD foundation.(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... ZICHRON YA'AKOV, Israel -- The United States-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, approved about US$9 million for 10 new projects, with a total value near $20 million. BIRD-F announced these results at its...

UK officials weigh benefits, costs of growing GM crops.
July 16, 2003... LONDON -- Weak consumer demand means the current generation of genetically modified crops is of little economic value to the UK, according to a government study of their overall costs and benefits published last week. While GM crops could...

Australian firm defends fees for access to noncoding DNA.
July 16, 2003... SYDNEY, Australia -- The chairman of Melbourne-based Genetic Technologies Ltd. hit out at an accusation by leading U.S. genetic researcher Francis Collins that his company is hampering researchers by charging for access to patents. Mervyn...

Affitech AS. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Affitech AS, of Oslo, Norway, named Chief Operating Officer Martin Welschof as its new CEO. He replaces company founder Ole Jorgen Marvik, who has taken on a corporate advisory role as a member of the company's board of directors. Welschof...

Antisoma plc. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Antisoma plc, of London, presented data at the American Association of Cancer Research meeting in Washington showing its vascular targeting agent DMXAA could be used as part of improved, combination regimens for pancreatic and colon cancers....

Astex Technology Ltd. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Astex Technology Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, said it published the first crystal structure of a human cytochrome P450, in the science journal Nature. The protein, CYP450 2C9, is one of four enzymes responsible for metabolizing more than 90...

Biotie Therapies Oyj, of Turku, Finland, said Inalco SpA, of Milan, Italy, had terminated its involvement in a co-development and licensing agreement on bioheparin. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Biotie Therapies Oyj, of Turku, Finland, said Inalco SpA, of Milan, Italy, had terminated its involvement in a co-development and licensing agreement on bioheparin. Biotie said negotiations with Inalco on the future of the program are under...

EU planning guidelines on embryonic stem cell research.
July 16, 2003... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Wracked by ethical anxieties, the European Union is planning new guidelines on what it will pay for in terms of human embryonic stem cell research. Under the EU's 2003-2006 research program, the funding of human...

BioVex Ltd. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * BioVex Ltd., of Oxford, UK, said that combining its oncolytic agent OncoVEX with chemotherapy resulted in a significant reduction in the dose of the drug needed to kill tumor cells in preclinical models. The data, presented at the American...

Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc, of Cambridge, UK, said the TRAIL-R2 monoclonal antibody will enter Phase I trials in the UK, managed by partner Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, Md. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc, of Cambridge, UK, said the TRAIL-R2 monoclonal antibody will enter Phase I trials in the UK, managed by partner Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, Md. The Phase I open-label trial will evaluate...

CareX SA. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * CareX SA, of Strasbourg, France, appointed Geoff Race as CEO to replace Bernard Gilly, a partner in the Paris-based venture capital company Sofinnova Partners, who had been acting CEO since the company's creation in November 2001 and remains...

Celltech Group plc, of Slough, UK, said it terminated the supply agreement with Lonza Biotec, of Visp, Switzerland, for the production of Celltech's anti-TNF-alpha antibody CDP 571. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Celltech Group plc, of Slough, UK, said it terminated the supply agreement with Lonza Biotec, of Visp, Switzerland, for the production of Celltech's anti-TNF-alpha antibody CDP 571. At the same time, Celltech entered a long-term supply...

Codon AG. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Codon AG, of Berlin, said Edgar Most, a member of the supervisory board, resigned effective immediately, leaving the board short of the legal number of members required to make business decisions. Most, who was a longtime senior manager at...

Conway Institute. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * The Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research at University College Dublin is establishing Ireland's largest zebrafish facility to study develop mental biology. Brendan Kennedy at UCD will head up the research effort, which has...

Cyclacel Ltd. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Cyclacel Ltd., of Dundee, UK, said it has developed biomarker technology to detect the occurrence of apoptosis following oral administration of CYC202, its cyclin dependent kinase cell cycle inhibitor. Biomarker analysis of blood samples from...

Diatos SA. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Diatos SA, of Paris, moved into a new 800-square-meter facility in the center of Paris, where it now occupies space above the head office of another biotechnology company, Hybrigenics SA. The new facility includes a chemistry lab equipped for...

Europroteome AG. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Europroteome AG, of Berlin, extended its Series A financing after achieving developmental milestones. The company declined to specify the amount of additional investment, but said that existing investors such as Earlybird and Heidelberg...

Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, made an up-front payment of US$1 million to license all rights to a human antibody that targets the hepatitis C virus from Connex GmbH, a German firm currently in receivership, and INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, made an up-front payment of US$1 million to license all rights to a human antibody that targets the hepatitis C virus from Connex GmbH, a German firm currently in receivership, and INSERM, the French...

Immuno-Designed Molecules SA, of Paris, exercised its option to acquire a nonexclusive license from Epimmune Inc., of San Diego, for certain cancer epitopes for use in its ex vivo cell therapies for cancer. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Immuno-Designed Molecules SA, of Paris, exercised its option to acquire a nonexclusive license from Epimmune Inc., of San Diego, for certain cancer epitopes for use in its ex vivo cell therapies for cancer. The license was sought under the...

Innogenetics NV. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Innogenetics NV, of Ghent, Belgium, said it gained approval for a voluntary delisting from the Nasdaq Europe exchange, but would retain its listing on the Euronext exchange in Brussels. Since listing on the latter facility in December, the...

IntegraGen. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * IntegraGen, of Evry, France, appointed Jan Mous as chairman and CEO to replace Jean-Luc Gerbier. Mous had been chief scientific officer of LION Bioscience AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, since 1999, and before that spent 15 years with the Swiss...

Meristem Therapeutics. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Meristem Therapeutics, of Clermont-Ferrand, France, said the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products of the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products recommended the designation of Meristem's gastric lipase as an orphan...

Munich Biotech AG. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Munich Biotech AG, of Munich, Germany, appointed Adolf Haellmayr to its supervisory board. Haellmayr is an attorney with four decades of experience in accounting, tax and legal consulting. He worked for Allianz AG, one of the largest insurers...

Oxford BioMedica plc. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * Oxford BioMedica plc, of Oxford, UK, presented new data on its lead gene therapy product, TroVax, at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington. In a second Phase 1/11 trial the vaccine was administered intradermally...

PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, of Oxford, UK, said directors announced their resignation last week after the 542 million [pounds sterling] (US$872.4 million) takeover offer by Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., was declared unconditional. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
July 16, 2003... * PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, of Oxford, UK, said directors announced their resignation last week after the 542 million [pounds sterling] (US$872.4 million) takeover offer by Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., was declared unconditional....

Zeltia rallies support for Yondelis in attempt to secure EU approval.
July 23, 2003... It's crunch time this week for Spanish firm Zeltia SA. Since late last month, the Madrid-based company has been engaged in an unusually vocal lobbying campaign on behalf of its cancer drug Yondelis, which the London-based European Medicines...

Antisense approach to muscular dystrophy shows early promise.
July 23, 2003... LONDON -- Animal tests of a novel type of genetic therapy for muscular dystrophy showed highly encouraging results, according to a recent report. Clinical trials in people with muscular dystrophy could follow if researchers can find a way to...

Intercell raises 30m [euro] in third round to fund vaccines work.
July 23, 2003... MUNICH, Germany -- Intercell AG raised 30 million [euro] in its third round of financing, from a syndicate of venture capital firms led by Global Life Science Ventures (GLSV). Intercell, of Vienna, Austria, concentrates on therapeutic and...

Therascope raises 24.1 [euro] to fund new discovery approach.
July 23, 2003... MUNICH, Germany -- Therascope AG secured 24.1 million [euro] in second-round financing to advance its approach to drug discovery with a technology the company calls target-amplified candidate evolution (TACE). As part of the transaction,...

UK report: GM crops are safe, but more research is needed.
July 23, 2003... LONDON -- There is no evidence that eating genetically modified crops and produce currently on the market poses any threat to human health, but more research is needed on potential environmental impacts, according to a scientific review of the...

SkyePharma files for approval of pain drug, partners DepoCyte.
July 23, 2003... LONDON -- SkyePharma plc filed for FDA approval of DepoMorphine, its sustained-release formulation of morphine, triggering an unspecified milestone from its North American marketing partner, Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. At the same time, the...