News

Novartis has become the latest pharmaceutical company to invest in antibody-drug conjugates, a technology that is said to hold considerable promise for the treatment of cancer.

The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and Roche Molecular Systems Inc have entered into a three-year collaboration to find out if they can predict a woman’s risk for developing cervical cancer.

Merck Serono has announced plans to appeal against the European Medicines Agency’s decision not to recommend approval of its candidate multiple sclerosis drug, Movectro (cladribine). The negative opinion was issue on 23 September 2010.

Roche Holding AG and its US partner, ImmunoGen Inc, said that interim results from a Phase 2 study of their antibody-drug conjugate, trastuzumab-DM1, showed a better response rate in women with metastatic breast cancer, than with a comparator.

At the request of the US Food and Drug Administration, Abbott Laboratories Inc has agreed to withdraw its obesity drug, Meridia (sibutramine), from the US market because of clinical trial data indicating an increased cardiovascular risk.

MorphoSys AG has reached out to synthetic biology in order to retain a lead in the fast-moving therapeutic antibody business.

Boehringer Ingelheim has decided to discontinue development of flibanserin, its compound for hypoactive sexual desire disorder in pre-menopausal women, following its rejection by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The board of directors of Genzyme Corp has rejected Sanofi-Aventis’s unsolicited bid for the company at $69 per share saying that it undervalues the company and its late-stage pipeline which includes a promising new product for multiple sclerosis.

Novartis International AG is teaming up with a newly-created US company to investigate a method for producing influenza vaccines using synthetic biology and genome sequencing. The technology is being called ‘synthetic genomics.’

The Netherlands-based gene therapy company, Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics Holding NV (AMT), has raised a gross €14.3 million from a private placement of its shares with investors in order to support its gene therapy portfolio.