Forendo Pharma OY of Finland has secured €12 million from a syndicate of investors including Novartis Venture Fund and MS Ventures to bring a candidate drug for endometriosis into the clinic. The drug inhibits the enzyme 17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1.
The European Medicines Agency said that it now has procedures in place to review data on candidate vaccines or therapies aimed at protecting or treating patients infected with the Ebola virus with a view to making these medicines available as quickly as possible.
Switzerland’s Actelion Ltd, which has a portfolio of treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), reported significantly higher sales and earnings for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2014.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc is to seek £1 billion in new annual cost savings over three years as a 25% decline in sales of the respiratory product Advair continued to put pressure on the group’s financial performance.
Bluebird bio Inc has treated the first patient in a Phase 1/2 trial designed to establish the safety and efficacy of a gene therapy procedure in patients with sickle cell disease. This is reportedly the first ever gene therapy study in patients with this disorder.
Shire Plc said that it has agreed with AbbVie Inc to end their proposed merger, and that a break fee of $1.635 billion is now payable to it. The Dublin, Ireland-based company said it was well positioned to continue as an independent business.
Bicycle Therapeutics of the UK has raised £20 million in equity financing to bring its candidate peptide therapeutics into clinical development in cancer indications. The technology combines features of both antibodies and small-molecule drugs.
James Bowling, the interim chief financial officer of Shire Plc, has decided to step down from his position effective 31 March 2015. He is to join Severn Trent Plc as CFO. Shire said that it will start recruitment for a new CFO immediately.
Data showing that robust human pancreatic beta cells can be produced in vitro is being described as a breakthrough for modern science and specifically for the future treatment of Type 1 diabetes.
The Roche group reported sales of CHF 34.8 billion (€28.8 billion) for the first nine months of 2014, unchanged from a year earlier. At constant exchange rates sales increased by 5%. The main event of the period was its acquisition of InterMune Inc for $8.3 billion in the third quarter.