Novexel SA, a privately held French company that develops antibacterial and antifungal products, has licensed a beta-lactamase inhibitor, NXL104, to a subsidiary of Forest Laboratories Inc of the United States for €75 million plus milestone payments of potentially €75 million and “low double-digit” royalties on sales in North America.
Nycomed SCA SICAR, a privately held pharmaceutical company registered in Luxembourg and headquartered in Switzerland, has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its asthma treatment, Alvesco, in the United States.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified ReNeuron Group Plc that its investigational new drug (IND) application to start a Phase 1 clinical study of a stem cell therapy in patients with stroke remains on ‘clinical hold,’ but ReNeuron said it is confident that the therapy can be taken into clinic this year.
Addex Pharmaceuticals Plc has entered into an exclusive, global licensing agreement with Merck & Co. to develop a candidate drug for treating schizophrenia and other undisclosed indications. The deal is potentially valued at up to $700 million, the company said.
Oxford Genome Sciences (UK) Ltd has entered into a strategic collaboration with Amgen Inc to discover, develop and commercialise therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Lundbeck A/S has agreed to take over the development of desmoteplase, a candidate product for stroke, from Paion AG of Germany following a re-analysis of a failed Phase 3 study that showed the drug still had potential for treating patients with acute ischemic stroke.
A Texas-based company that is developing treatments for cancer has raised its stake in AdnaGen AG of Germany to 85% from 51%. The company, Oncovista of San Antonio, said AdnaGen’s technology for detecting circulating tumour cells (CTCs) will improve its ability to prescreen patients for clinical trials.
Ablynx NV of Belgium said that its collaborations with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and with Novartis relating to the development of antibody-derived therapeutic proteins, have each been extended for one year.
The outlook for Pronova BioPharma’s lead product, an omega-3 derived prescription medicine for hypertriglyceridemia (HTG), has improved following GlaxoSmithKline’s $1.65 billion acquisition of Reliant Pharmaceuticals Inc. The takeover was completed on 19 December 2007.
A technology platform developed by Intercell AG to discover candidate vaccines received further validation with the start of a Phase 2 trial by its partner, Merck & Co. The trial is designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a prophylactic vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus infection. S. aureus is the most common cause of hospital-acquired infections.