BioWorld International articles from July 2007

BioWorld International archives from July 2007

Intercell shares rise on Novartis pact, $366m committed cash.
July 4, 2007... Shares in Intercell hit an all-time high during early trading Monday on news that it had entered a broadly based alliance with Novartis AG, with a guaranteed cash element of 270 million [euro] (US$366.7 million), comprising an up-front, option...

Biogen wins UK approval for Tysabri reimbursement.
July 4, 2007... LONDON -- Biogen Idec Inc., has forced a change of heart from the UK's health economics watchdog, persuading it that Tysabri represents good value for the money in treating highly active relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). The...

Santhera in-licenses Novartis drug for muscular dystrophy.
July 4, 2007... Santhera Pharmaceuticals AG added another clinical stage compound to its pipeline by in-licensing from Novartis AG omigapil (SNT-317), a compound that failed to show efficacy in Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but...

Stem cell discovery promises to widen scope of research.
July 4, 2007... LONDON -- A new type of embryonic stem cell now is available from mice, with characteristics that are "strikingly similar" to those of human embryonic stem cells. The newly available murine stem cells will accelerate studies into human...

Serentis raises $20.8m in first VC funding round.
July 4, 2007... LONDON -- Serentis Ltd. raised 10.3 million [pounds sterling] (US$20.8 million) in a first venture capital funding round, enabling it to progress two or three products into Phase II clinical trials over the next 2.5 years. The company,...

Ablynx.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 4, 2007... Ablynx, of Ghent, Belgium, announced positive interim results from the ongoing Phase I study of its lead development program, ALX-0081, an anti-thrombotic treatment. ALX-0081 is a first-in-class therapeutic nanobody targeting von Willebrand...

Acrongenomics Inc., of Geneva, Molecular Vision Ltd., of London, and Pearson Matthews Ltd., of Surrey, UK, joined forces to design a fully manufacturable, prototype, point-of-care medical diagnostic device to detect kidney and cardiac biomarkers.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... Acrongenomics Inc., of Geneva, Molecular Vision Ltd., of London, and Pearson Matthews Ltd., of Surrey, UK, joined forces to design a fully manufacturable, prototype, point-of-care medical diagnostic device to detect kidney and cardiac...

Algeta ASA.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 4, 2007... Algeta ASA, of Oslo, Norway, established a research collaboration with an undisclosed partner to discover radio-immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer treatment. The collaboration is aimed at utilizing Algeta's TH-1 technology to link...

Vivalis garners 40m [euro] in oversubscribed IPO.
July 4, 2007... PARIS -- Vivalis raised 40.4 million [euro] in an initial public offering on Eurolist Compartment C of the Euronext stock exchange in Paris, which closed June 27. With the open-price offering oversubscribed six times and the global...

European scientists back GMOs in face of growing opposition.
July 4, 2007... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has reaffirmed the safety of Monsanto's genetically modified, insect-resistant maize MON 863, rejecting the conclusions of a recent publication by the French CRIIGEN group of a...

Amphion Innovations plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 4, 2007... Amphion Innovations plc, of London, raised 2.1 million [pounds sterling] (US$4.2 million) in a placing of 9.7 million shares at 0.22 [pounds sterling] per share. The money will be used to invest in new and existing start-ups. Richard Morgan,...

Diatos raises 9.4m [euro] for anticancer therapies.
July 4, 2007... PARIS -- Diatos SA, which a year ago failed to complete a planned initial public offering in which it hoped to raise 25 million [euro] (US$34 million) in an operation that would have left 26 percent of its capital in public hands, has...

European Drug chief slams pharmaceutical talk-shop.
July 4, 2007... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European pharmaceutical industry exasperation at repeated and unprofitable talks with government spilled over during the latest meeting of the European Union's High Level Pharmaceutical Forum. Speaking after the...

Beike Biotechnology Co. Ltd.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... Beike Biotechnology Co. Ltd., of Shenzhen, China, said a research team at its collaborating hospital in Shenyang completed a study assessing clinical efficacy, safety and feasibility of transplantation of peripheral blood stem cells for...

BioWisdom Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, announced a three-year agreement with AstraZeneca plc. of London.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... BioWisdom Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, announced a three-year agreement with AstraZeneca plc. of London, for BioWisdom's Safety Intelligence Program, a method for assessing drug safety risk at early stages of drug discovery. Financial terms were not...

CeNeS Pharmaceuticals plc.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... CeNeS Pharmaceuticals plc, of Cambridge, UK, said a paper published in CNS Drugs further supports the hypothesis that a catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitor that acts in the brain would be a useful agent to address profound cognitive...

DeCode Genetics Inc.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... DeCode Genetics Inc., of Reykjavik, Iceland, published a paper in Nature with several academic collaborators regarding the discovery of two single nucleotide polymorphisms linked to a 70 percent and 40 percent increase in the risk of atrial...

Enceladus Pharmaceuticals BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Clinquest Group, also of Amsterdam, signed an investment and collaboration agreement under which Clinquest acquired a stake in Enceladus and led a syndicate of investors to provide additional funding.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 4, 2007... Enceladus Pharmaceuticals BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Clinquest Group, also of Amsterdam, signed an investment and collaboration agreement under which Clinquest acquired a stake in Enceladus and led a syndicate of investors to...

Evogene Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, and SunGene GmbH, of Gatersleben, Germany, announced a collaboration to develop next-generation enabling technologies for the precise bioengineering of crops.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... Evogene Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, and SunGene GmbH, of Gatersleben, Germany, announced a collaboration to develop next-generation enabling technologies for the precise bioengineering of crops. The deal is supported under the Israel-Germany...

Galapagos, of Mechelen, Belgium, is expanding its osteoarthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... Galapagos, of Mechelen, Belgium, is expanding its osteoarthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London. Galapagos has issued 513,281 new shares for an investment of 4.4 million [euro] (US$5.9 million) by GSK. GSK will bring a drug...

Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, reached its first development milestone in its collaboration with London-based GlaxoSmithKline plc for the development of ofatumumab (HuMax-CD20) by reporting positive efficacy results in a Phase II study in rheumatoid arthritis earlier this month.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, reached its first development milestone in its collaboration with London-based GlaxoSmithKline plc for the development of atumumab (HuMax-CD20) by reporting positive efficacy results in a Phase II study in...

Hutchison China MediTech Ltd.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... Hutchison China MediTech Ltd. (Chi-Med), of Shanghai, China, announced positive results for a Phase II proof-of-concept study for HMPL-004 in mild to moderate ulcerative colitis. HMPL-004 was well tolerated and showed an equivalent drop in...

Karo Bio AB, of Huddinge, Sweden, extended its atherosclerosis collaboration with Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth for an additional year until Aug. 31, 2008.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... Karo Bio AB, of Huddinge, Sweden, extended its atherosclerosis collaboration with Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth for an additional year until Aug. 31, 2008. The companies began collaborating in 2001 and extended the agreement for a year in August...

Oxford BioMedica, of Oxford, UK, and its partner Sigma-Aldrich, of St. Louis, have signed a joint license agreement for Oxford BioMedica's LentiVector.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... Oxford BioMedica, of Oxford, UK, and its partner Sigma-Aldrich, of St. Louis, have signed a joint license agreement for Oxford BioMedica's LentiVector gene delivery technology with an un-named U.S. biotechnology company, Financial details were...

Plethora Solutions Holdings plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 4, 2007... Plethora Solutions Holdings plc, of London, raised 4 million [pounds sterling] (US$8.1 million) in a secured loan from ETV Capital SA, allowing Plethora to complete the clinical development and U.S. filing of Invicorp, a treatment for erectile...

Proteome Sciences plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 4, 2007... Proteome Sciences plc, of Cobham, UK, agreed to a new loan from Christopher Pearce, the CEO, under which he will increase the existing loan facility from 4 million [pounds sterling] (US$8.1 million) to 6 million [pounds sterling]. The loan, on...

PSivida Ltd.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... PSivida Ltd., of Perth, Australia, entered an agreement with an undisclosed global medical device company to evaluate cardiovascular delivery of drugs using pSivida's drug delivery technologies. The agreement follows the expiration of a...

Tecan Switzerland AG.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 4, 2007... Tecan Switzerland AG, of Mannedorf, Switzerland, and the Monash Antibody Technologies Facility at Monash University in Australia, have partnered to create a monoclonal antibody production system, which will be based around multiple integrated...

VASTox plc, of Oxford, UK, has agreed to a series of pilot screening agreements with Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany; Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J., and Servier SA, of Paris.(Other News To Note)
July 4, 2007... VASTox plc, of Oxford, UK, has agreed to a series of pilot screening agreements with Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany; Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J., and Servier SA, of Paris. Together, the deals will bring in more than 300,000...

Silence signs AstraZeneca to $400m respiratory drug deal.
July 11, 2007... In its largest deal to date, RNAi firm Silence Therapeutics plc is partnering with AstraZeneca plc in a potential 200 million [pounds sterling] (US$400 million) to develop drugs against respiratory disease targets. In return for granting...

CureVac receives 13m [euro] to boost mRNA cancer vaccines.
July 11, 2007... CureVac GmbH banked 13 million [euro] (US$17.7 million) in a second closing of its Series B round, taking the total value of the transaction to 35 million [euro] and accelerating the development of its pipeline of mRNA-based cancer vaccines....

One bad SNP carries variant linked to bowel cancer risk.
July 11, 2007... LONDON -- A common genetic variant that puts people at greater risk of colorectal cancer has been found on a region of chromosome 8 that is, intriguingly, already known to be linked to prostate cancer. The variant, a single nucleotide...

Neuropharm gets patients' group support for autism program.
July 11, 2007... LONDON -- Neuropharm Group plc secured the support of the U.S. patients' group Autism Speaks in the staging of a Phase III trial of NPL-2008, a formulation of Prozac (fluoxetine) in treating autism spectrum disorder. The agreement gives...

Ark Therapeutics Group plc, of London, said the European Patent Office has granted it a patent covering the use of agents that affect the angiotensin-renin system for the prevention and treatment of stroke, triggering a milestone payment from Ark's existing licensee, Boehringer Ingelheim, of Ingelheim, Germany.(Other News To Note)
July 11, 2007... Ark Therapeutics Group plc, of London, said the European Patent Office has granted it a patent covering the use of agents that affect the angiotensin-renin system for the prevention and treatment of stroke, triggering a milestone payment from...

Bracco Imaging SpA.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 11, 2007... Bracco Imaging SpA, of Milan, Italy, and ImaRx Therapeutics Inc., of Tucson, Ariz., entered a cross-license agreement. Bracco Imaging got worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive rights to certain microbubble compositions for use solely in...

Circassia Ltd.(Other News To Note)(Richard Sykes appointed)(Brief article)
July 11, 2007... Circassia Ltd., of Oxford, UK, has appointed Richard Sykes chairman of the board. He succeeds Charles Swingland, who held the post of executive chairman following creation of the company earlier this year. Swingland will remain as deputy...

GNI Ltd., of Tokyo, and BioBase GmbH, of Wolfenbuttel, Germany, formed a technology and business alliance.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 11, 2007... GNI Ltd., of Tokyo, and BioBase GmbH, of Wolfenbuttel, Germany, formed a technology and business alliance. They will further develop and market Cell Illustrator 3.0, a biological illustration and biopathway modeling software tool that was...

Helsinn Healthcare SA, of Lugano, Switzerland, and partner MGI Pharma Inc., of Minneapolis, said the FDA accepted for filing the supplemental new drug application for Aloxi (palonosetron hydrochloride) injection.(Other News To Note)
July 11, 2007... Helsinn Healthcare SA, of Lugano, Switzerland, and partner MGI Pharma Inc., of Minneapolis, said the FDA accepted for filing the supplemental new drug application for Aloxi (palonosetron hydrochloride) injection. The sNDA seeks approval for the...

Ipso Ventures plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 11, 2007... Ipso Ventures plc, of London, the quoted intellectual property commercialization specialist, made a further investments in two of its spinout companies, Therakind Ltd. and Intelligent Woundcare Ltd. Ipso is putting 300,000 [pounds sterling]...

Kreatech Biotechnology BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, licensed a labeling technology to Agilent Technologies Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif.(Other News To Note)
July 11, 2007... Kreatech Biotechnology BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, licensed a labeling technology to Agilent Technologies Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif. The technology is expected to optimize Agilent's array-based comparative genomic hybridization...

GW expands cannabis franchise into CNS, oncology indications.
July 11, 2007... LONDON -- GW Pharmaceuticals plc has found a route to expand its portfolio beyond using cannabis extracts in the treatment of pain, signing a research and development agreement with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., to develop cannabinoids in a...

EU prediction: Europe's biotech future will depend on change.
July 11, 2007... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Personalized medicine will be a reality by 2030, thanks to novel biotech drugs and regenerative medicine, the European Union has confidently predicted. An expert group assembled by Germany, which held the rotating European...

To-BBB raises $5.4 million for CNS drug delivery.
July 11, 2007... To-BBB Technologies BV raised 4 million [euro] (US$5.4 million) in a Series A round to finance the development of its technology for delivery of drugs across the blood-brain barrier and into the central nervous system. The company is preparing...

Medivir AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of New York, terminated development of the preclinical HIV compound MIV-170 because it did not meet the desired profile.(Other News To Note)
July 11, 2007... Medivir AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of New York, terminated development of the preclinical HIV compound MIV-170 because it did not meet the desired profile. MIV-170 is a polymerase inhibitor that Medivir licensed to...

Oxford BioMedica plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 11, 2007... Oxford BioMedica plc, of Oxford, UK, signed a license agreement with Children's Hospital in Boston, extending its existing rights for the anti-angiogenesis genes endostatin and angiostatin, in the treatment of cancer using gene therapy. Oxford...

Panagene Inc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 11, 2007... Panagene Inc., of Daejeon, South Korea, licensed the right to sell PNA monomers from the Copenhagen Inventor Group. The agreement allows Panagene to synthesize, manufacture and sell peptide nucleic acids monomers for use by researchers....

Photopharmica Holdings Ltd.(Brief article)
July 11, 2007... Photopharmica Holdings Ltd, of Leeds, UK, announced the successful completion of a Phase II placebo-controlled trial using topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of microbial disease in wounds. The trial of PPA 904, a member of...

Rosetta Genomics Ltd.(Other News To Note)
July 11, 2007... Rosetta Genomics Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, said research published in the journal Molecular Cell by scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science and Rosetta suggested the potential for a specific, single microRNA (miR-34a) to be used as a...

Transgene SA.(Other News To Note)
July 11, 2007... Transgene SA, of Strasbourg, France, said Bryan Garnier & Co., of Paris, the sole lead manager and bookrunner for the capital increase it launched on June 11, exercised in full the 15 percent overallotment option granted to it. Its decision...

Vivalis.(initial public offering)(Brief article)
July 11, 2007... Vivalis, of Nantes, France, announced that the lead manager and book-runner for its IPO on Eurolist Compartment C of the Paris Euronext stock exchange, Natixis, of Paris, has decided to exercise in full the over-allotment option offered to it....

Arpida gains on iclaprim data from second cSSSI pivotal trial.
July 18, 2007... Arpida AG remains on track to file for marketing approval for the intravenous antibiotic iclaprim in the U.S. and Europe before the year-end, following positive topline data from a second pivotal trial of the compound in patients with...

Neovacs garners $17.9m to get immuno projects to clinic.
July 18, 2007... PARIS -- Neovacs SA, which is developing therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of AIDS, cancer, auto-immune and allergic diseases, raised 13 million [euro] (US$17.9 million) in a funding round led by Novartis Venture Fund, an offshoot of the...

'Clear-cut' gene for asthma gives hope for better therapies.
July 18, 2007... LONDON -- In a discovery that marks a milestone for asthma research, scientists have found a gene that increases the risk of developing childhood-onset asthma. Although the function of the gene is currently unknown, future studies will reveal...

Stem cell technology moves from horses into humans.
July 18, 2007... LONDON -- VetCell Bioscience Ltd. is raising 10 million [pounds sterling] (US$20.3 million) to translate its stem cell technology for treating tendon injuries in race horses to the treatment of humans. The company currently is raising the...

GlycoVaxyn gets $9.6m in series a for conjugated vaccines.
July 18, 2007... GlycoVaxyn AG raised CHF11.5 million (US$9.6 million) in a Series A round for development of its preclinical conjugated vaccines, which are based on a proprietary technology that offers a simpler and cheaper alternative to current covalent...

Immune targeting raises $7.1m to boost its vaccine pipeline.
July 18, 2007... LONDON -- Immune Targeting Systems (ITS) Ltd. raised 3.5 million [pounds sterling] (US$7.1 million) in a first round, enabling it to take a universal influenza A vaccine into the clinic and advance a preclinical portfolio of other synthetic...

NicOx receives 5m [euro] milestone as new drug enters the clinic.
July 18, 2007... PARIS -- NicOx SA received a second milestone of 5 million [euro] (US$6.8 million) from Merck & Co. Inc. under the collaboration agreement the two companies signed in March 2006 to develop new antihypertensive drugs using the French company's...

European union ministers duck GM potato decision.(European Union Roundup)
July 18, 2007... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union agriculture ministers failed to agree on whether to authorize cultivation of a genetically modified potato to produce industrial starch. The BASF Plant Science product--Solanum tuberosum L. line...

EuropaBio applauds guidance on treatment of biosimilars.(European Union Roundup)
July 18, 2007... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- New guidance on authorization of copies of biotech drugs has been welcomed by the European biopharmaceutical industry. EuropaBio said that a question-and-answer document released by the European Medicines Agency will help...

ActoGeniX NV.(OTHER NEWS TO NOTE)(Brief article)
July 18, 2007... ActoGeniX NV, of Ghent, Belgium, was awarded a 3.07 million [euro] (US$4.2 million) grant from the Flanders government through IWT (Institute for Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders). That funding, along with the 20...

Allergy Therapeutics plc.(OTHER NEWS TO NOTE)
July 18, 2007... Allergy Therapeutics plc, of Worthing, UK, saw its shares fall 0.28 [pounds sterling] to 0.91 [pounds sterling] last week after the FDA placed a hold on one of its clinical trials of Pollinex Quattro, a hayfever vaccine, following a single...

Circassia Ltd.(OTHER NEWS TO NOTE)(Brief article)
July 18, 2007... Circassia Ltd., of Oxford, UK, acquired ToleroTrans, anti-rejection technology for use in organ transplantation from the University of Birmingham in the UK for an undisclosed up-front payment, plus future milestones and royalties on product...

Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, and DSM Biologics, of Sittard, the Netherlands, granted Masterclone, of Moscow, a nonexclusive PER.C6 research license.(OTHER NEWS TO NOTE)
July 18, 2007... Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, and DSM Biologics, of Sittard, the Netherlands, granted Masterclone, of Moscow, a nonexclusive PER.C6 research license. Masterclone will use the technology to develop an undisclosed antibody. Terms of the...

Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, and India-based Research Support International Ltd., a subsidiary of DIL Ltd., formed a joint venture in India.(OTHER NEWS TO NOTE)(Brief article)
July 18, 2007... Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, and India-based Research Support International Ltd., a subsidiary of DIL Ltd., formed a joint venture in India. The venture, Evotec-RSIL Ltd., will design, synthesize and manage compound libraries as a service....

Exiqon A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Luminex Corp., of Austin, Texas, executed a distribution agreement for the FlexmiR line of products co-developed by the companies in 2006.(OTHER NEWS TO NOTE)(Brief article)
July 18, 2007... Exiqon A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Luminex Corp., of Austin, Texas, executed a distribution agreement for the FlexmiR line of products co-developed by the companies in 2006. Exiqon has nonexclusive rights to distribute FlexmiR products and...

Pentium Spa.(Other News to Note)
July 18, 2007... Pentium Spa, of Como, Italy, said preclinical data supported Defibrotide's mechanism of action in the regulation and inhibition of protection of key regulatory proteins involved in cancer, diabetic nephropathy and endothelial damage. Among data...

Phosphagenics Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, and Nestle Nutrition, of Vevey, Switzerland, extended the period under which Nestle has the option to negotiate an exclusive license to use Phospha E to treat and prevent metabolic syndrome.(Other News to Note)(Brief article)
July 18, 2007... Phosphagenics Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, and Nestle Nutrition, of Vevey, Switzerland, extended the period under which Nestle has the option to negotiate an exclusive license to use Phospha E to treat and prevent metabolic syndrome. To avoid...

Protherics plc.(Other News to Note)
July 18, 2007... Protherics plc, of London, said the maximum tolerated dose of Prolarix was determined in a Phase I study of the targeted prodrug therapy, which is being developed for the treatment of primary liver cancer and other tumors. Prolarix treatment...

Qiagen NV, of Venlo, the Netherlands, said a subsidiary completed its acquisition of eGene Inc., of Irvine, Calif., for $34 million in cash and stock.(Other News to Note)
July 18, 2007... Qiagen NV, of Venlo, the Netherlands, said a subsidiary completed its acquisition of eGene Inc., of Irvine, Calif., for $34 million in cash and stock. The deal was announced in April. eGene has developed a multichannel sample separation and...

Selexis SA, of Geneva, signed a license agreement with Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG, of Mainz, Germany, for use of Selexis technology for large-scale production of Ganymed's lead cancer antibodies.(Other News to Note)
July 18, 2007... Selexis SA, of Geneva, signed a license agreement with Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG, of Mainz, Germany, for use of Selexis technology for large-scale production of Ganymed's lead cancer antibodies. The license allows Ganymed to use a cell line,...

Sloning Biotechnology, of Puchheim, Germany, and Research & Innovation Japan Inc. (RIJ), of Tokyo, signed a distribution partnership for RIJ to exclusively market and sell the Slonomics gene synthesis service and Slonomax product family of mutant libraries in Japan.(Other News to Note)
July 18, 2007... Sloning Biotechnology, of Puchheim, Germany, and Research & Innovation Japan Inc. (RIJ), of Tokyo, signed a distribution partnership for RIJ to exclusively market and sell the Slonomics gene synthesis service and Slonomax product family of...

UCB SA, of Brussels, Belgium, launched a minority buyout offer for its 87.6 percent-owned German unit Schwarz Pharma AG, of Monheim, Germany.(Other News to Note)
July 18, 2007... UCB SA, of Brussels, Belgium, launched a minority buyout offer for its 87.6 percent-owned German unit Schwarz Pharma AG, of Monheim, Germany. UCB said the terms of the buyout have been registered in the German commercial register. Last...

Vernalis plc.(Other News to Note)(clinical trials)(Brief article)
July 18, 2007... Vernalis plc, of Reading, UK, announced the topline results from a Phase IIa trial of V3381, a treatment for neuropathic pain in diabetes. The trial was designed to assess safety and pharmacokinetics while providing a preliminary indication of...

ZoBio BV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, said it will provide ligand discovery services in the field of fragment-based drug discovery to UCB SA, of Brussels, Belgium.(Other News to Note)
July 18, 2007... ZoBio BV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, said it will provide ligand discovery services in the field of fragment-based drug discovery to UCB SA, of Brussels, Belgium. The agreement provides for initial ligand screening of UCB discovery targets....

Strong data has Trion, Fresenius optimistic about removab filing.
July 25, 2007... Trion Pharma GmbH and its partner Fresenius Biotech GmbH remain on track to file for approval in Europe this year for their 'trifunctional antibody' removab (catumaxomab), which attained the primary endpoint and several secondary endpoints in a...

European Union Officials warn against GM 'isolation'.
July 25, 2007... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- There is an urgent need for the European Union to speed up GM crop authorizations to avoid negative implications for its livestock production and agriculture overall, according to a new report from EU officials. It...

Stopping conjugal visits could fight bacteria, drug resistance.(Relaxase, This Won't Hurt a Bit)
July 25, 2007... Bacterial resistance to antibiotics can evolve spontaneously, as bugs divide under selective pressure from an antibiotic. But usually, resistance is a feat a bacterium borrows from its neighbors: It can spread both within and between strains...

GW shares take a blow with delay on Sativex.
July 25, 2007... LONDON -- Shares in GW Pharmaceuticals plc fell 27 pence to 65 pence after the company was forced to withdraw the European submission of Sativex in treating spasticity in multiple sclerosis and conduct another trial. Although sounding...

Life-saving wonder drugs: when is the price right?
July 25, 2007... You don't have to go out and see Michael Moore's "Sicko" to know that the health care system works a lot differently in the U.S. than in many other industrialized nations. With the right insurance, you can get care here that is the envy of the...

Acambis plc.(Other News To Note)
July 25, 2007... Acambis plc, of Cambridge, UK, said it started a Phase I clinical trial of its universal influenza vaccine ACAM-FLU-A targeting all A strains of the flu virus. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial in the U.S. will...

Ark Therapeutics plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 25, 2007... Ark Therapeutics plc, of London, withdrew its application for early marketing approval of Cerepro, its treatment for malignant glioma, under the exceptional circumstances route, following confirmation from the European Medicines Agency that...

Arpida Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, entered an agreement to acquire privately held TLT Medical Ltd., of Reinach, Switzerland.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 25, 2007... Arpida Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, entered an agreement to acquire privately held TLT Medical Ltd., of Reinach, Switzerland. TLT is developing a therapy to treat onychomycosis, or fungal infections of the nails of the fingers and toes. It is a...

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said U.S. and European regulatory authorities accepted its new drug application and marketing authorization application for ceftobiprole (BAL5788) in the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections.(Other News To Note)
July 25, 2007... Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said U.S. and European regulatory authorities accepted its new drug application and marketing authorization application for ceftobiprole (BAL5788) in the treatment of complicated skin and skin...

BioLineRx Ltd.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
July 25, 2007... BioLineRx Ltd., of Jerusalem, and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana have entered into an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement to research, develop and commercialize BL-4030, a small molecule for treating cancer. Financial terms...