Silence Therapeutics Plc has entered into an agreement with Mirna Therapeutics Inc of Austin, Texas to apply its delivery technologies to the US company’s candidate microRNA-based therapeutics for cancer. Financial details weren’t disclosed.
Sanofi SA said that the first of two randomised Phase 3 clinical trials of its antibody, alemtuzumab, showed a statistically significant improvement in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis compared with interferon beta-1a.
US researchers have reported that inhibitors of certain small RNA molecules known as microRNAs can promote an increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease. The research has been published in Nature.
The European Medicines Agency has reaffirmed its decision not to recommend the gene therapy, Glybera, for marketing following an appeal from the developer, Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics BV. This is the second gene therapy to be turned down by the EMA.
The European Medicines Agency has announced the start of a new review of the cardiovascular risks associated with the use of non-selective NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) which are used to treat pain and inflammation.
Syntaxin Ltd, which is a 2005 spin-out of the UK Health Protection Agency, has entered into an agreement with Ipsen SA of France to discover and develop therapies in the field of botulinum toxins in a deal potentially valued at more than $100 million.
EMD Serono Inc, an affiliate of Merck KGaA of Germany, and Fast Forward LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US Multiple Sclerosis Society, are committing up to $3 million in 2012 to support early-stage projects in multiple sclerosis.
e-Therapeutics Plc expects to report clinical data by the end of 2013 on four drug candidates that have been identified using a ‘network pharmacology’ approach to drug discovery. The goal was outlined in the company’s interim results.
An experimental malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc has reduced the risk of malaria by half in African children between the ages of five and 17 months. The results have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In a decision that will have far-reaching consequences for regenerative medicine, the European Court of Justice has ruled that inventions requiring the destruction of human embryos, or their prior use as base material, cannot be patented under European law if the purpose is purely for scientific research.