News

Nicox SA continued to strengthen its ophthalmic business in 2013 with an acquisition and the expansion of its US sales force. But significant sales and an end to losses weren’t achieved during the year.

Evotec AG has signed a partnership agreement with the Debiopharm Group of Switzerland to discover and develop novel compounds for the treatment of multiple forms of solid tumours and leukaemias which have defined genetic alterations.

Genomic Vision SA, a French company focused on DNA analysis and genetic testing in cancer and inherited disorders, has raised €23 million with an initial public offering on the regulated market of the Euronext exchange in Paris. The shares start trading on 7 April.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has decided is to stop a Phase 3 trial of a MAGE-A3 cancer vaccine for patients with non-small cell lung cancer because it has been unable to identify a sub-population that might benefit from the treatment.

SkyePharma Plc is poised to pay off years of fixed-income debt following commitments from institutional investors to buy shares in the company. This is expected to raise gross proceeds of £112 million, sufficient to pay off debt while leaving a residual £8.4 million for future investment. The company announced the capital-raising measures on 31 March, together with the release of its 2013 financial results.

AstraZeneca Plc has agreed to give the Medical Research Council access to its proprietary compound library under a collaboration aimed at identifying promising new candidate drugs. Under the deal, the MRC will fund up to 15 screening projects per year.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medicine for haemophilia B – the first treatment for the disorder to require less frequent injections. The drug, Alprolix, was developed by Biogen Idec Inc and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB.

Evotec AG has entered 2014 with a simplified structure that will highlight revenue from projects generated from the company’s own internal research. Going forward, the company will also use the financial metric, EBITA, as its main indicator for productivity.

More than six months into new management, Kymab Ltd is taking steps to build a pipeline of therapeutics that is based on a proprietary transgenic mouse platform.

A novel gene therapy developed by bluebird bio Inc of Cambridge, Massachusetts has been administered to a patient with beta-thalassemia, a rare blood disorder. The treatment involves an autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation.