News

GlaxoSmithKline Plc of the UK said that top-line results from a Phase 3 trial of an experimental drug for Fabry disease failed to meet its primary endpoint of clearing a lipid substra

The European Medicines Agency has announced the start of a safety and efficacy review of Tredaptive (laropiprant and nicotinic acid), a licensed drug that recently completed a trial in combination with statin therapy for patients at risk of cardiovascular events.

Biotest AG of Germany has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market its immunoglobulin product, Bivigam, in the US. The approval had been held up pending the completion of additional tests.

A new UK company has been launched with £11.5 million in venture capital funding to exploit a portfolio of preclinical and clinical neurokinin receptor antagonists divested from GlaxoSmithKline Plc. Novo A/S and Advent Venture Partners are investors.

The Swiss vaccine developer, GlycoVaxyn AG, is set to receive an upfront payment and equity investment from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals as part of a collaboration to develop new anti-bacterial vaccines against an undisclosed set of pathogen targets.

Researchers at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium have joined forces with two French pharmaceutical companies to discover new compounds targeting the  LRRK2 gene in Parkinson’s disease.

Venture-capital backed Poxel SA of France has raised €13 million in a Series B round to support the clinical development of its lead product for Type 2 diabetes, Imeglimin. The financing was led by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.

Austria’s leading biotechnology company, Intercell AG, has agreed to merge with Vivalis SA of France in an all-share transaction that will give Vivalis’s shareholders a controlling stake in a new, combined company to be located in Lyons, France.

MorphoSys AG has announced plans to sell its service business, AbD Serotec, to Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc for €53 million in cash. The divestment will enable the German company to focus on its therapeutic antibody business.

H. Lundbeck A/S is to sell 10 non-core assets to Recordati S.p.A. of Italy in order to focus on its newer products in the area of neurological disorders. The Danish company said it will receive up to $100 million which will be reinvested in new products and geographical expansion.