News

Vernalis Plc and its partner Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc have been told by the US Food and Drug Administration that their proposed treatment for the prevention of menstrual migraine has not yet demonstrated a clinically meaningful benefit.

The Dutch government has decided to allocate €271 million for the second phase of a national programme that integrates genomics into several branches of science, including the development of new medicines. The programme is known as the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI).

Four French biotechnology companies made initial public offerings (IPOs) of their shares in the first nine months of 2007, double the number in each of the previous two years, according to the industry association, France Biotech.

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term financing arm of the European Union, has begun rolling out a new borrowing facility for research-intensive companies which might otherwise be unable to obtain capital.

The Bioprocessing Research Industry Club (BRIC) has awarded £3.5 million to researchers at seven UK universities for projects that will make the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals more efficient.

Pronova BioPharma ASA, which has a patented method of extracting and concentrating omega-3 ethyl esters from fish oil, is having its shares listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in an initial public offering (IPO) of 105,915,432 shares at a price of between NOK 23 and NOK 29 per share.

Stem Cell Sciences Plc said it is coordinator of a new collaboration that will design bioassays that can be used to discover new candidates for treating cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and epilepsy.

GATC Biotech AG, a German DNA sequencing service provider, said it has signed a collaboration agreement with three partners to develop a DNA microarray-based diagnostic test able to detect both bacterial and fungal sepsis-triggering pathogens

The chairman of Allergy Therapeutics Plc said he expects the FDA hold on its clinical trials of Pollinex Quattro to be lifted in due course.

Omega Pharma NV is spinning out its professional health division, Arseus NV., with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 23.5 million shares on the Euronext in Brussels and Amsterdam.