BerGenBio AS of Norway has completed an $8.8 million Series A financing round to take its lead cancer compound into the clinic and develop a companion diagnostic. The lead investors are Sarsia Seed AS and Investinor AS.
Scientists from Cambridge and Harvard Universities have reported that the deterioration of CNS tissue in aged mice can be reversed by exposing them to cells from younger animals. Their findings appear in the 6 January issue of Cell Stem Cell.
AstraZeneca Plc is to advance into preclinical development, three siRNA programmes stemming from a research collaboration with Silence Therapeutics Plc, a developer of RNA interference technology for use in human therapeutics.
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has agreed to pay $65 million upfront over four years, plus research funding, to Forma Therapeutics Inc of the US to discover new small molecule drugs for cancer using Forma’s protein-protein interaction technology.
AstraZeneca Plc has decided to further invest in a candidate drug for Alzheimer’s disease arising from a research collaboration with Targacept Inc, according to the US company. The molecule modulates the alpha4beta2 neuronal nicotinic receptor.
Apogenix GmbH has raised €7.5 million from private investors to advance development of its lead product for glioblastoma. The announcement comes shortly after the company said it will investigate a new indication for the same product.
ProFibrix BV of the Netherlands has announced that a Phase 2 US study of its sealant to stop bleeding during and after surgery reached its primary endpoint, confirming the results of an earlier Phase 2 study in the Netherlands.
A new preclinical study has shown that a combination of experimental vaccines can provide partial protection against infection from the simian immunodeficiency virus, a virus similar to HIV. The results were reported online in Nature on 4 January.
Neovacs SA of France has reported promising data from a Phase 2a study of a new immunotherapy for patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have ceased to respond to an anti-tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) monoclonal antibody.
After regaining rights to the broad-spectrum antibiotic, ceftobiprole, Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd has announced plans to file a European marketing authorisation application in the second half. Talks with the FDA are ongoing about a US filing.