GlaxoSmithKline Plc reported an underlying sales growth of 4% in 2011 and improved pharmaceutical productivity, as the effects of a multi-year restructuring programme and a new R&D strategy started to deliver results.
Innate Pharma SA reported revenue and other income of €11.7 million in 2011, reflecting the impact of its licensing agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company for rights to an anti-cancer monoclonal antibody in early clinical development.
Venture-capital backed Pieris AG has received a €1 million German government grant to support the development of a cancer compound that targets the c-Met signalling pathway. The funds will be used for biomarker discovery.
Cytos Biotechnology Ltd has received approval from a court in the canton of Zurich to restructure a convertible bond valued at about $44.8 million. This follows a move to cut its workforce last August from 82 to10 and to reduce the size of its executive.
Wilex AG is set to receive up to €2.6 million from the German government to support the preclinical and clinical development of a small molecule cancer compound that targets the P13K signalling pathway.
Novo Nordisk A/S expects revenue to grow by 7-11% this year even as some of its products face generic competition, and government healthcare reforms put downward pressure on prices. The company now claims a 24% share of the diabetes market.
Agennix AG of Germany has stopped further enrollment and treatment in a Phase 2/3 trial of talactoferrin, a genetically-engineered form of the human protein, lactoferrin, on safety grounds. The drug was being studied in sepsis.
Zealand Pharma A/S of Denmark said that revenue, plus other operating income, amounted to DKK 170.7 million (€23 million) in 2011, about double the DKK 88.2 million (€11.9 million) earned a year earlier. Income mainly came from alliances.
A Norwegian start-up company,Targovax AS, has raised NOK 13 million (€1.7 million) in a Series A financing round to support the clinical development of a therapeutic vaccine against pancreatic cancer. The candidate product is a peptide vaccine that targets mutations on ras genes.
Citing the need to make further productivity gains, AstraZeneca Plc has announced plans to eliminate 7,300 jobs by the end of 2014 or about 12% of its 60,000-strong workforce. Of this number, 2,200 positions will be taken from research and development. This is the third company-wide restructuring programme since 2007 which altogether will see the loss of 28,900 jobs and yield annual savings estimated at $5.9 billion by the end of 2014.