UCB SA of Belgium is to allocate up to $6 million over two years to a new collaboration with Harvard University focusing on research into future therapeutics for immunological diseases and diseases of the central nervous system.
UCB SA is predicting that it will cross the fabled ‘patent cliff’ in 2012 as new products replace those that have gone off patent thereby providing a foundation for future growth. The forecast was issued with the company’s 2010 financial results.
Ipsen SA, the French speciality pharmaceutical company, said that revenues rose by 5.2% in 2010 to about €1.2 billion while net profit attributable to shareholders declined by 39.1% to €95.3 million.
Oxford BioMedica Plc advanced its lead vaccine and gene therapies in the clinic in 2010 while raising £20 million in new capital in January to support ongoing development activities. The company had a net loss in 2010 of £10.3 million.
Merck Serono has received a ‘complete response letter’ from the US Food and Drug Administration rejecting its proposed multiple sclerosis treatment, cladribine. The company withdrew its European application for the same drug in February.
Genmab A/S of Denmark sharply narrowed its operating loss in 2010 following a reduction in costs and the generation of income from ofatumumab which was given a conditional marketing authorisation in Europe for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
Intercell AG, the Austrian vaccine developer, made a restructuring and impairment charge in the 2010 fourth quarter of €182.8 million, mainly as the result of terminating a vaccine patch project in Phase 3 development.
Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd has reached an agreement to acquire Plexxikon Inc of the US, which has a product for metastatic melanoma in Phase 3, along with a companion diagnostic. The Japanese company is offering $805 million for Plexxikon.
A Phase 3 trial of the monoclonal antibody, belimumab, has shown the drug to be safe and effective for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and may be a new option for management of the disease, according to a paper in The Lancet.
Ipsen SA and BioMérieux SA of France have entered into a global collaboration to develop therapies and companion diagnostics for prostate and breast cancers, neuro-endocrine tumours and pituitary tumours. Financial terms weren't disclosed.