UCB SA expects that global demand for its core neurology and immunology products will deliver solid growth in 2014 as the company makes the transition to new management. Jean-Christophe Tellier, a rheumatologist and currently executive vice president of the company, is scheduled to take over as chief executive on 1 January 2015, from Roch Doliveux, the current CEO.
Abingworth LLP has raised £225 million from investors for its tenth life sciences fund that will provide venture capital to companies in Europe and the US. The proceeds exceeded the investment group’s target of £200 million.
InDex Pharmaceuticals AB of Sweden has raised $20 million (€15 million) in a share placement with institutional investors ahead of the release of data from a late-stage trial of its lead product Kappaproct for severe ulcerative colitis.
Eli Lilly and Company’s experimental drug for Type 2 diabetes, dulaglutide, has met its primary endpoint of non-inferiority in a Phase 3 trial where it was being compared with Novo Nordisk’s Victoza. Both drugs are glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new hormone replacement therapy for the treatment of complications of leptin deficiency, the first approved therapy for the disease. Myalept (metreleptin) was developed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals LLC.
ThromboGenics NV, which has a novel ophthalmic product on the market in the US, has announced plans to explore its strategic options for the future. It has appointed Morgan Stanley to help with the strategic review process.
An observational study of up to 10,000 patients with suspected coronary artery disease is underway with the goal of finding new biomarkers and disease-related pathways for use in the development of diagnostic tools and treatments for cardiovascular disease.
The European Medicines Agency’s main scientific committee has issued a positive opinion for a new GlaxoSmithKline Plc medicine to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Eli Lilly and Company said that its antibody therapy, ramucirumab, has improved overall survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer in a global Phase 3 trial. Ramucirumab inhibits the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2.
Novartis said that an experimental drug for advanced basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer, met its primary endpoint in a Phase 2 study. The treatment, LDE225, is a molecule that regulates the hedgehog signaling pathway.