Company News

The Roche Group has announced plans to invest $25 million upfront for access to new peptide technology that locks peptides into their biologically active shape, mimicking the structures found in nature.

Genzyme Corp has rejected an unsolicited cash takeover bid from Sanofi-Aventis which values the company at $69 per share or $18.5 billion. The rejection was communicated in a letter to the Sanofi CEO Christopher Viehbacher.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for high blood pressure from Novartis which combines the renin inhibitor, aliskiren, with the calcium channel blocker, amlodipine, in a single pill.

A new company has been set up in the Benelux to discover and develop small molecule drugs for treating bone and joint diseases. It combines assets from TiGenix NV of Belgium and Therosteon BV of the Netherlands.

Cancer Research Technology of the UK has signed an agreement with Bayer Schering Pharma AG to evaluate new leptin antagonist peptides as potential treatments for gynaecological diseases, including cancer.

The Roche Group has announced plans to acquire privately-owned BioImagene Inc of Sunnyvale, California for $100 million in order to bolster its position as a provider of personalised medicines. BioImagene develops digital pathology services.

The US Food and Drug Administration has granted priority review status to belimumab, a potential treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus, according to the drug’s co-developers, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Human Genome Sciences Inc.

Preclinical research showing that reprogrammed adult stem cells can repair damaged heart tissue in mice has been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The technology is also being tested in a human trial in Europe.

Building on momentum in the first-half year, SkyePharma Plc said it expects to report an increase in revenue for 2010. Driving the business forward will be the new CEO, Axel Müller, who takes over the top job from Ken Cunningham on 23 August.

The European regulatory review of a ground-breaking gene therapy for the treatment of a protein deficiency linked to pancreatitis is on schedule with a decision expected by mid-2011, according to the developer, Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT).