The European Medicines Agency is recommending a tightening of its guideline on first-in-human clinical trials to provide better protections for volunteers and a new approach to evaluating protocols that cover a number of different study parts.
Research involving mice has suggested for the first time that niches of neural progenitor cells in the adult brain may be vulnerable to infection from the Zika virus. The findings were reported in the 18 August issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.
A review of patients who had experienced a stroke and were treated with an experimental stem cell therapy has shown the therapy to be safe and linked to improved neurological function. Data from a two-year follow-up of the patients were published in The Lancet on 20 August.
Ablynx NV has reported a 39% increase in revenue to €53.5 million for the first half year and a narrowing of its operating loss to €2 million from €7.4 million. The main events of the period were favourable clinical trial results from two products that use the company’s technology platform, which is derived from the llama.
AstraZeneca Plc is divesting a portfolio of small molecule antibiotics in line with its strategy of generating out-licensing revenue and tightening its therapeutic focus. In a deal announced on 24 August, the UK company said it will sell rights to the portfolio to Pfizer Inc which has a focus on infectious disease.
Researchers at the Technical University of Munich have discovered that astrocytes, a sub-type of glia cells in the central nervous system, play an important role in the supply of sugar to the brain. The findings were reported in the 11 August 2016 edition of Cell.
H. Lundbeck A/S, the Danish specialist in brain diseases, reported a 5% increase in first half year revenue to DKK 7.5 billion (€1.01 billion), powered by a 33% increase of sales in the US. The company also secured an operating profit, after a large loss the previous year from a write-off.
The London-based private equity firm Cinven Ltd is acquiring the US medical services company Bioclinica Inc for a reported $1.4 billion as an investment for its sixth capital management fund.
In preparation for splitting into two new listed business, Switzerland-based Galenica AG has decided to make a $1.53 billion US acquisition that will help one of the prospective companies, Vifor Pharma, get off to a strong start.
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc has raised $5 million with a Series A equity placement that will top up its financing for a Phase 2 study of AMX0035, an experimental treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).