Company News

The ReNeuron Group Plc said it expects to seek final regulatory and ethical approvals in early July to start a Phase 2 study of its stem cell treatment for patients disabled by a stroke.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved two new drugs from GlaxoSmithKline Plc for patients with metastatic melanoma linked to specific gene mutations. These are the third and fourth melanoma drugs to be approved since 2011.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has paid €250 million in cash for the Switzerland-based vaccine company, Okairos AG, which has developed technology applicable to both prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine products.

Prosensa Holding BV of the Netherlands, which is developing an antisense oligonucleotide for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, has made a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public share offering.

Ugichem GmbH of Austria, which has developed a new antisense drug technology platform, has raised €2.25 million from public and private investors to advance preclinical drug candidates for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

AstraZeneca Plc is to pay up to $443 million to acquire Omthera Pharmaceuticals Inc of Princeton, New Jersey, a five-year-old company with a single product – a late stage omega-3 free fatty acid composition to treat hypertriglyceridaemia.

A consortium led by Merus BV of the Netherlands is set to receive €5.9 million from the European Union’s FP7 programme to develop a prospective antibody-based therapy and screening tools for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Roche has announced a new collaboration with Macrocyclics, a member of the Areva group, to continue development of a novel chelating agent for use in radioimmunotherapy. This is the second collaboration between the two companies.

Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) SA of France has raised €4.8 million in a placement of its shares with existing and new investors in order to finance an expansion of its manufacturing capacity for radioactive agents for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging. Funds will also be used to investigate a second indication for the company’s radiopharmaceutical for cancer, Lutathera.

BTG Plc has raised a gross £106.3 million in a share placement with institutional investors to partially fund two North American acquisitions that will strengthen the British company’s presence in the hospital market.