A team of international researchers has isolated 17 new broadly neutralising antibodies that may be effective against many variants of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The finding appeared online in Nature on 17 August.
An RNA-based therapeutic developed by AVI BioPharma Inc of the US has shown promise as a disease-modifying treatment for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal genetic disorder, according to an article in The Lancet.
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd is auditing clinical data for its broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic, ceftobiprole, with a view to making a future regulatory filing. This follows problems with earlier studies conducted by licensee, Johnson & Johnson.
Galápagos NV has extended for the third time a drug discovery agreement with Genentech (Roche) that involves the use of a number of technologies to discover new chemical entities against targets defined by the Roche group subsidiary.
SkyePharma PC said regulatory clearance in Europe of its asthma drug, Flutiform, is still pivotal to its long-term growth. The company issued the outlook together with the release of its first-half results on 18 August which showed that revenue and operating profit both dropped. This was largely owing to the fact that one-off income the previous year wasn’t repeated.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new personalised medicine, Zelboraf (vemurafenib), for metastatic melanoma that targets mutated forms of the BRAF protein, and a companion diagnostic. The developer is the Roche group.
Cytos Biotechnology Ltd is to cut its workforce to 10 employees from 82 and put all projects on hold except for its lead allergy programme in order to conserve cash and avoid default on a CHF 41.1 million convertible bond due on 20 February 2012.
Strong sales of a vaccine against Japanese Encephalitis (Ixiaro/Jespect) boosted revenue at Intercell AG in the first half of 2011, putting the company on course for significant growth for the year as a whole.
Evolva Holding SA has become the latest European company to negotiate a standby equity facility with YA Global, a US-based investment group. The facility amounts to CHF 30 million (€27.1 million) and will extend the company’s cash runway by a year.
Evotec AG’s strategy of building alliances in drug discovery with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies continued to bear fruit in the first half of 2011 as revenues increased by 34% to €33.4 million and operating income rose 169% to €0.9 million.