News

Shire Plc has agreed to pay up to $825 million for an experimental drug for the prevention and reduction of scarring in connection with surgery. The licensing agreement, with Renovo Group Plc, would give Shire exclusive rights to market the drug, called Juvista, in every country except the member states of the European Union.

There are a growing number of instances where charitable organisations can provide money to profit-making companies and still demonstrate that they are working in the public interest, according Richard Seabrook, head of business development at the Wellcome Trust.

Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics AMT Holding NV, which develops gene-based therapies for orphan diseases, raised €50 million in an initial public offering on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

Swedish biotech companies increased their pipeline of drug candidates substantially in 2007 compared with a year earlier, according to a survey conducted by SwedenBio, an industry association, and two government agencies, Invest in Sweden Agency (ISA) and Vinnova.

A guideline outlining how companies should prepare to conduct first-in-man studies of novel medicinal products in Europe, should be completed in July, 2007, according to Patrick Le Courtois, head of the Unit for Pre-Authorisation of Medicines for Human Use at the European Medicines Agency (EMEA).

Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT) Holding NV, which develops gene-based therapies for orphan diseases, expects to raise around €45 million in an initial public offering on the Eurolist-by-Euronext section of the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

Santaris Pharma A/S of Denmark announced at the June 2007 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago that its RNA antagonist for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) showed promising results in an initial Phase I/II clinical trial.

The number of international patent applications filed by biotechnology companies under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) dropped by two-thirds from 2002 to 2006, while applications to national and regional agencies were little changed over the same period, according to the UK solicitors, Marks & Clerk.

Light regulation, low cost and flexible admission criteria make the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) an attractive venue for small companies that want to issue shares for the first time, according to the chief executive officers of four life science companies that have issued IPOs on AIM since 2004.

The European biotechnology industry increased its revenues by 13% in 2006, while narrowing its losses. At the same time, spending on research and development increased, especially on the part of the 32 companies that made initial public offerings during the year.