The US Food and Drug Administration has announced the approval of vandetanib from AstraZeneca Plc for the treatment of patients with late-stage medullary thyroid cancer who are ineligible for surgery. The decision was announced on 6 April.
Reliance GeneMedix Plc, which is part of the Reliance Life Sciences Group in India, has withdrawn a marketing authorisation application for erythropoietin from the European Medicines Agency. It cited its inability to supply additional data.
Merck & Co has reached agreement to acquire the US speciality pharmaceutical company, Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc, for $430 million. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.
It is something of a truism to say that money follows success. It is less easy to say why some companies are more successful than others, and how their successes can be repeated.
Evolva Holding SA of Switzerland, which specialises in synthetic biology, has announced plans to acquire the US venture-capital backed Abunda Nutrition Inc in an all-share transaction valued at approximately CHF 40.5 million (€31.3 million).
The AstraZeneca Plc unit, MedImmune, has entered into a three-year collaboration with the technology transfer arm of France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) to research disease and potential drug candidates.
MDxHealth SA, the Belgian molecular diagnostics company, is intending to raise at least €6 million with a private placement of its shares managed jointly by Kempen & Co and Nomura Code Securities.
Qiagen NV, the Netherlands-based diagnostic group, has made a bid equivalent to $355 million to acquire Cellestis Ltd of Australia and its ‘pre-molecular’ technology for detecting diseases early.
Sanofi-Aventis SA said that its offer for Genzyme Corp has been accepted by shareholders representing 84.6% of the company’s common stock and approximately 77% of shares on a fully-diluted basis, giving the French company full control.
Algeta ASA and Genzyme Corp (Sanofi-Aventis) have announced plans to jointly explore the use of the Norwegian company’s radiopharmaceutical platform to enhance the ability of a Genzyme monoclonal antibody to target and kill cancer.