Novo Nordisk sees sales growth of 7-11%

Novo Nordisk A/S expects revenue to grow by 7-11% this year even as some of its products face generic competition, and government healthcare reforms put downward pressure on prices. The company now claims a 24% share of the diabetes market.

Country: Denmark

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Agennix stops trial in severe sepsis

Agennix AG of Germany has stopped further enrollment and treatment in a Phase 2/3 trial of talactoferrin, a genetically-engineered form of the human protein, lactoferrin, on safety grounds. The drug was being studied in sepsis.

Country: Germany

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Zealand Pharma’s 2011 revenue doubles

Zealand Pharma A/S of Denmark said that revenue, plus other operating income, amounted to DKK 170.7 million (€23 million) in 2011, about double the DKK 88.2 million (€11.9 million) earned a year earlier. Income mainly came from alliances.

Country: Denmark

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Targovax funds pancreatic cancer vaccine

A Norwegian start-up company,Targovax AS, has raised NOK 13 million (€1.7 million) in a Series A financing round to support the clinical development of a therapeutic vaccine against pancreatic cancer. The candidate product is a peptide vaccine that targets mutations on ras genes.

Country: Norway

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AstraZeneca to eliminate 7,300 jobs

Citing the need to make further productivity gains, AstraZeneca Plc has announced plans to eliminate 7,300 jobs by the end of 2014 or about 12% of its 60,000-strong workforce. Of this number, 2,200 positions will be taken from research and development. This is the third company-wide restructuring programme since 2007 which altogether will see the loss of 28,900 jobs and yield annual savings estimated at $5.9 billion by the end of 2014.

Country: United Kingdom

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Wilex successfully completes rights offering

Wilex AG, which has an antibody treatment for renal cell cancer in a pivotal Stage 3 trial along with a companion diagnostic, has successfully completed a €9.93 million rights issue. Wilex is based in Munich, Germany.

Country: Germany

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Roche reports 11% rise in core per-share earnings

Roche delivered on its earnings targets for 2011, reporting an 11% increase in core earnings per share for the year, and a rise in net income, expressed in Swiss francs, of 7%. The company is proposing to raise its dividend by 3% to CHF 6.80 per share.

Country: Switzerland

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Gleevec given expanded indication for gastrointestinal cancer

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved an expansion of the approved use of Gleevec (imatinib) to increase the time during which the drug is effective in patients with CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST). The developer of the drug is Novartis.

Country: United States

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FDA approves personalised therapy for cystic fibrosis

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new personalised medicine, Kalydeco (ivacaftor), for a rare form of cystic fibrosis, the first treatment to target a mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene.

Country: United States

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Domain Therapeutics receives grant for PD

Venture-capital backed Domain Therapeutics SA of France has received a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to develop allosteric modulators for Parkinson’s disease. This follows a year-earlier licensing deal with Merck Serono, also for PD.

Country: France

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