Ablynx NV, the Belgian pharmaceutical company that derives therapeutic proteins from antibodies, said its revenues rose 150% in 2007 to €9.9 million from €3.9 million a year earlier. But the company’s loss narrowed only slightly to €12.5 million from €13.2 million.
MorphoSys AG said that it expects revenue to grow to between €73 and €77 million this year from €62 million in 2007 on continued demand for antibodies from its proprietary Human Combinatorial Antibody Library (HuCAL). Operating profit is expected to be in a range of €9 to €11 million, compared with €7 million in 2007.
Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd said that it has achieved its first preclinical milestone in a licensing agreement with the Merck & Co affiliate, Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Ltd (MSD), for a candidate drug for Parkinson’s disease and other undisclosed indications, triggering a payment of $250,000.
MorphoSys AG has reached a licensing agreement with the St Louis Missouri-based life science company, Sigma-Aldrich under which the German company will develop and qualify antibodies from its proprietary antibody library against targets supplied by Sigma-Aldrich. Financial details were not disclosed.
Stem Cell Sciences Plc (SCS), which provides researchers with stem cell culture media, said its revenue from ordinary activities declined by 20% to £593,000 in 2007 from £742,000 in 2006 while its operating loss from ordinary activities rose to £3,572,000 from £2,608,000.
GPC Biotech AG has announced a third round of job cuts and a reshaping of its development activity in order to make its cash reserves cover three years of operating expenses.
Vernalis Plc is reorganising its management, more than halving its workforce, closing a clinical development site in Canada and divesting one of its marketed products in order to conserve cash in the wake of a regulatory setback for its migraine product, Frova (frovatriptan succinate).
Directors of the Medical Marketing International Group (MMI) have removed its chairman, David W. Best, in what was described as a “disagreement regarding the future leadership of the business.”
Shire Plc, the British speciality pharmaceutical company, reported 46% rise in fourth quarter 2007 revenues, bringing the overall gain in turnover for the year to 36%.
Ardana Plc is restructuring its business to reduce its cash commitments while looking to sell or merge the company, according to company announcements on 19 February 2008.