Skyepharma Plc has purchased rights to a respiratory technology platform from Pulmagen Therapeutics (Synergy) Ltd that could form the basis of a range of new products for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Avastin (bevacizumab) with chemotherapy to treat advanced cervical cancer – the first biologic to be authorised for this indication in combination with other agents.
A Phase 3 trial of the cancer drug Kyprolis administered as a single agent for patients with refractory multiple myeloma has failed to meet its endpoint of improving overall survival. This follows another study of the same drug in combination with two other agents that was positive.
Prosensa Holding NV of the Netherlands has received a commitment for up to €5 million in funding to support the further development of its portfolio of antisense oligonucleotides for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare genetic disorder.
Ablynx NV has received a €2.1 million grant from a government body in the Flanders region of Belgium to investigate the treatment of eye diseases with the company’s antibody-derived therapeutics which go by the name of Nanobodies.
ArGEN-X NV has raised an additional €1.8 million from its initial public offering on the Euronext stock exchange in Brussels following the partial exercise of an over-allotment option by one of the underwriters.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd, which develops gene sequencing technology, said that it has raised £35 million in new funding through a private placement of its ordinary shares. The transaction brings to £180 million the total funds raised since its founding in 2005.
Scancell Holdings Plc said that a study in animals which combined its cancer vaccine SCIB1 with a checkpoint inhibitor showed enhanced tumour destruction and longer survival times, supporting the hypothesis that the best outcomes in humans may be from combination therapy.
Evotec has increased the scope of its discovery activities with an agreement to help Shire Plc identify potential drugs to treat Fabry’s disease, an inherited metabolic disorder. The agreement is one of several to be initialed in the first half of the year that collectively expand the company’s reach into metabolic disorders, cancer, pain and infectious disease.
Novo Nordisk A/S said that a cardiovascular outcomes study for one of its newest products, Tresiba, is proceeding ahead of schedule, raising the prospect that data could be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration in the first half of 2015 with a new assessment thereafter. Tresiba was turned down by the FDA in 2013.