News

H. Lundbeck A/S, which specialises in diseases of the central nervous system, has reduced its senior management and appointed the chief executive of its French operations as head of its commercial operations.

The Anglo-German biotechnology company, Cellzome, has delivered a candidate small molecule drug to GlaxoSmithKline Plc for development against an undisclosed kinase target in the area of inflammatory disease, the first of two new milestones.

Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd has formed a collaboration with Seattle Genetics Inc to jointly discover antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) for cancer. ADCs are antibodies attached by a linker to a cytotoxic drug and designed to kill cancer cells.

Silence Therapeutics Plc has announced plans to collaborate with a privately-owned company in the Netherlands, InteRNA Technologies BV, to develop microRNA therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Financial details were not disclosed.

Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA is strengthening its ties with Merck Serono as the two companies seek to validate two new CNS compounds. The expanded collaboration was highlighted in Newron’s financial report for the 2011 first half.

.AM-Pharma BV of the Netherlands has raised €29.2 million under adverse financing conditions. The proceeds will allow it to test a recombinant form of alkaline phosphatase in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) up to the completion of phase 2.

Mesoblast Ltd of Australia has received clearance to start a Phase 2 trial of a new allogeneic stem-cell therapy in patients suffering acute heart attacks. The UK’s King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the study sites.

Celtic Pharma Holdings, a global private equity group, has launched a new company that will manufacture, register and commercialise products from the companies in its investment portfolio.

Privately-held Probiodrug AG of Germany has put forward a strategy for treating Alzheimer’s disease that involves inhibiting an enzyme called glutaminyl cyclase, which is thought to play a role in the deposition of toxic amyloid plaques in the brain.

The Roche group has announced the start of a Phase 1 clinical study of a new molecule designed to address the cognitive and behavioural deficits associated with Down syndrome. The drug targets the GABAergic system.