Cosmo Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. is offering to acquire a 2002 Roche spin-out for CHF 41.3 million (€27.4 million) giving it access to a novel treatment for pain, and research and development assets that could lead to drugs for urological indications.
The UK regenerative medicines company, Intercytex Group Plc, whose lead product failed at Phase 3, has announced plans to eventually wind up its business once it has disposed of all of its stem-cell and related assets.
The Roche group has decided to discontinue development of an antibody created by Genmab A/S to treat cancer, in part because of the large number of molecules already in development targeting the same pathway. Safety was not an issue, Genmab said.
AstraZeneca Plc is to pay $200 million upfront for rights to a candidate product for depression that works by modulating the activity of various neuronal nicotinic receptor subtypes. The agreement is with Targacept Inc of the US.
Argen-x BV, a Dutch biopharmaceutical company that is discovering and developing a new type of antibody, has raised an additional €3 million in a Series A equity financing round, bringing the total raised for the round to €12.5 million.
Agennix AG said its Phase 2 trial of talactoferrin for treating severe sepsis achieved its primary endpoint and was also well tolerated with no adverse effects. Among other things, the trial results showed a 45% overall reduction in 28-day all cause mortality compared with a placebo.
Addex Pharmaceuticals and a subsidiary of Merck & Co have agreed to extend for a third year their collaboration on developing positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) for a receptor linked with Parkinson’s disease.
GW Pharmaceuticals Plc, which is developing a range of new cannabinoid medicines, expects European regulators to give a decision in the first half of 2010 on its application to market a drug to treat spasticity due to multiple sclerosis.
NicOx SA of France has launched a rights issue of approximately €70 million following the successful completion of a €30 million private placement. An NDA for the company’s lead drug has been filed with the Food and Drug Administration.
Clavis Pharma ASA of Norway has reached an agreement to partner its candidate drug for pancreatic cancer with a start-up oncology company in the US in a deal valued at up to $380 million. The partner is Clovis Oncology Inc of Colorado.