Elias Zerhouni, head of research and development at Sanofi SA, used a gathering of regulatory officials in London on 18 March to appeal for more convergent standards for drug approvals. He argued that divergent standards among the drug authorities had created needless complexity for industry.
In a review of clinical and financial events during 2014, ArGEN-X highlighted the clinical progress of its lead antibody for CD70-positive cancers and disclosed new information about its preclinical pipeline. The lead product ARGX-110 is poised to start a US trial in Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.
The annual Bio-Europe Spring meeting typically brings together business development directors from small and medium-sized European companies to discuss licensing or partnering deals with their counterparts at large pharma, or with venture capitalists.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has taken the unusual step of making a $52 million equity investment in CureVac GmbH of Germany which has technology for making prophylactic vaccines that don’t require cold chain storage and distribution. The technology is based on messenger RNA.
Nicox SA, which is engaged in ophthalmic product development, has raised €27 million through a share placement with institutional investors in order to finance the marketing of its late stage products.
AbbVie Inc has raised the bar for oncology acquisitions with an agreement to buy Pharmacyclics Inc and its recently approved drug Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for blood cancers for a cash and share offer totaling $21 billion. The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies.
Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A reported a fall in revenue and a widening of its annual operating loss in 2014 as it prepared to bring its first product to market – an add-on treatment for mid-to-late stage Parkinson’s disease.
A prostate cancer vaccine which has been in development for more than a decade is now the subject of an exclusive option agreement between at Bavarian Nordic A/S of Denmark and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, the total value of which could reach $975 million.
The Nikon Corporation of Japan has made a strategic move into the healthcare sector with plans to acquire Optos Plc of the UK for £259.3 million. Best known as a producer of cameras, Nikon began a strategic review of its operations as film-based cameras started giving way to the new digital technologies.
A new treatment for polycystic kidney disease, Jinarc (tolvaptan), has been recommended for approval by the European Medicines Agency. Developed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co, Jinarc is designed to treat a rare, inherited form of the disorder that affects about four in 10,000 people in the EU.