Shire Plc has taken further steps to strengthen its franchise in rare diseases with an agreement to acquire privately-owned Lotus Tissue Repair Inc which has a preclinical product for the treatment of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB). Financial terms were not disclosed.
ArGEN-X BV has announced the initiation of a Phase 1b clinical study in cancer patients of a new antibody targeting CD70, a member of the tumour necrosis factor superfamily. The company also announced an expansion of its discovery alliance with Shire Plc.
ISA Pharmaceuticals BV of the Netherlands has secured €8 million in funding from the Aglaia Oncology Fund and private investors to finance a Phase 2 study of its lead therapeutic vaccine candidate in cervical cancer. This a follow-on to an earlier Series A round.
The Swiss vaccine developer, GlycoVaxyn AG, has announced its second collaboration within a month with a member of the Big Pharma fraternity – this time with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc (Johnson & Johnson). The latest deal follows a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline Plc.
AstraZeneca Plc has entered into a research agreement with Cellular Dynamics International Inc to use the US company’s human induced pluripotent stem cell lines for drug discovery. This is the latest in a series of iPS cell initiatives to be announced since early November 2012.
AbbVie Inc, a new biopharmaceutical company spun out of Abbott Laboratories, began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on 2 January, marking the completion of a restructuring of the US multinational. AbbVie holds Abbott’s major research assets including those in immunology.
Evotec AG has announced a research collaboration with privately-held Apeiron Biologics AG of Vienna, Austria to develop immunomodulatory lead compounds for cancer. Financial terms were not disclosed. The collaboration follows the successful outcome of a high throughput screen.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a botanical drug to relieve the symptoms of diarrhoea in HIV/AIDS patients taking antiretroviral therapy. The drug, Fulyzaq (crofelemer), is only the second botanical drug product to be approved by the agency.
The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the first drug to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis involving the lungs in an accelerated approval based on a surrogate endpoint. The drug, Sirturo (bedaquiline), was discovered and developed by Johnson & Johnson Inc.
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