Pharmexa A/S, a Danish company that is developing immunotherapy vaccines for treatment of serious cancers, is reducing its development programmes, cutting staff numbers by 20% and moving to smaller premises in an effort to conserve cash while it looks for a buyer for all or part of its assets.
Pharming Group NV of the Netherlands said its cash position improved in 2007 following a successful convertible bond issue in October which raised €70 million. Cash on 31 December was €65.3 million compared with €31.3 million a year earlier.
Stem Cell Sciences Plc (SCS) is closing its office in Edinburgh, UK, streamlining its operations in Melbourne, Australia, and moving its operational base to the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, UK, where management will focus on negotiating research collaborations with pharmaceutical companies.
Pronova BioPharma ASA, which produces marine-originated pharmaceutical products, said revenues increased by 32.3% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to NOK 269.4 million on stronger US sales of its lead product, Lovaza.
Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA, the Italian biopharmaceutical company, is to acquire Hunter-Fleming Ltd., a privately-held British company focused on neurodegenerative and inflammatory disorders, in an all-share transaction.
4SC AG, which has developed a computer-based technology for screening drug candidates, has entered into a research collaboration with the Wuppertal-based company, AiCuris GmbH, to investigate anti-infective drug candidates.
Stem Cell Sciences Plc (SCS) has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) of Saratoga, California, to produce specific types of human brain cells from stem cell lines derived from foetal tissue.
Pharming Group NV said that its appeal against a rejection by the European regulator of Rhucin, its proposed treatment for patients with acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE), is underway and a final decision is expected in the second quarter of 2008
Shares of Genmab A/S, which specialises in developing human antibodies for disease, retreated 6.8% to DKK 315 in early trading on the Nordic Stock Exchange on 29 January 2008 following a spike in the price a day earlier. The stock rose on rumours of a possible takeover bid by a large pharmaceutical or biotechnology company.
The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) is recommending that Thalidomide Pharmion (thalidomide) be approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the bone marrow.