Argenx NV, which engineers antibodies originating in llamas, has started clinical development of a fourth antibody with the result that the increase in its research and development expenditure was far larger than the increase in operating income in the first nine months.
With six clinical stage products in its pipeline, one of which recently entered Phase 3, Ablynx NV has moved closer to the goal of becoming a vertically integrated biopharmaceutical company.
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy of Finland has raised £10 million gross on the AIM market in London in order to help finance a Phase 3 trial of its agent for acute respiratory distress syndrome Traumakine, a recombinant human interferon beta-1a product.
The first monoclonal antibody for multiple myeloma has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration under its accelerated approval procedure. Darzalex (daratumumab), was developed by Genmab A/S and licensed to Janssen Biotech Inc in 2012.
Kuros Biosurgery AG, a Swiss developer of biomaterials, has topped up a CHF 15 million (€13.89 million) financing round that closed for the first time in August, with an additional CHF 5 million from undisclosed investors.
A syndicate of investors co-led by New Science Ventures LLC of the US is to provide €8 million to Ovizio Imaging Systems, a Belgium-based medical device company that has technology for the real-time three dimensional imaging of living cells.
A new lung cancer drug developed by AstraZeneca Plc and a diagnostic developed by Roche have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to identify and treat patients with non-small cell lung cancer whose tumours have a specific gene mutation.
The US Food and Drug Administration has expanded the approved uses for Harvoni (ledipasvir and sofosbuvir), a combination pill for chronic hepatitis C (HCV), to include patients co-infected with HIV as well as those with genotype 4, 5 and 6 infections.
Germany-based Curetis BV has raised €40 million in an initial public offering of its shares on the Euronext exchanges in Amsterdam and Brussels for the commercialisation of its molecular diagnostic system for serious infectious diseases.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new combination therapy for advanced melanoma and has advised physicians to test for certain genetic mutations before prescribing the drugs. Both treatments are marketed by Genentech (Roche).