Recent News- MedNous, business of medical innovation

Wed 20 Aug 2008

Recent News

Please see the News index for a full listing of all news items.

Italian court denies Pronova BioPharma’s request for an injunction

The District Court of Rome in Italy has denied a request from Pronova BioPharma to enjoin an Italian company from allegedly infringing its Italian patent for the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in its lead product, Omacor/Lovaza. But Pronova said the ruling will not have any impact on its business. This is because of the strong, global sales of its product.

-- 20 August 2008

Evotec says partnering discussions for insomnia drug are ongoing

Evotec AG said partnering discussions are ongoing for its lead product, EVT 201, for the treatment of insomnia. Although market conditions are challenging, there is evidence of continued interest in this indication, said Jörn Aldag, the company’s president and chief executive officer, in a report on the 2008 first half. This interest is illustrated by GlaxoSmithKline’s decision in July to pay £66 million up-front to Actelion AG of Switzerland to co-develop an insomnia treatment.

-- 19 August 2008

Vaccine sales drive growth at Crucell

Sales of paediatric vaccines, in particular Quinvaxem, added to revenue growth at the Dutch biophamarceutical company, Crucell NV, in the 2008 second quarter. Together with increased licensing income and higher sales of travel vaccines, revenue and other operating income rose by 51% to €59.6 million from €39.4 million a year earlier. Based on these results, Crucell said it expects revenue and operating income to increase by 20% for the year as a whole.

-- 19 August 2008

Nycomed projects steady earnings despite generic competition

Nycomed SCA SICAR is projecting only a small drop in profits in 2008 even though it faces generic competition for its best selling drug, pantoprazole, a proton pump inhibitor for acid-related gastrointestinal diseases.

-- 18 August 2008

Intercell expects regulatory decisions on Japanese encephalitis vaccine soon

The Austrian vaccine producer, Intercell AG, said that regulatory decisions should be forthcoming soon on its applications to market a new prophylactic vaccine against Japanese encephalitis, IC51. Japanese encephalitis is a virulent mosquito-borne infection that is a leading cause of childhood encephalitis and viral encephalitis in Asia.

-- 18 August 2008

Switzerland’s Cytos in research agreement with Pfizer Vaccines

The Swiss developer of therapeutic vaccines, Cytos Biotechnology AG, has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Pfizer Vaccines LLC to research and commercialise novel vaccines against a number of human diseases. The disease targets were not disclosed.

-- 16 August 2008

EMEA is investigating two cases of adverse events linked to Tysabri

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) is investigating two reports of a rare brain infection in patients who have been treated with the multiple-sclerosis drug, Tysabri (natalizumab).

-- 15 August 2008

Oxford BioMedica confirms unsolicited bid after spike in share price

Oxford BioMedica Plc has confirmed that it received an unsolicited bid from a US diagnostics company following a rise in its share price on the London Stock Exchange by about 25%.

-- 15 August 2008