News

Thomas Klaue, chief financial officer of MediGene AG since 2007, is leaving the company following differences with other members of the management team over strategy.

Evotec AG is on course to achieve profitability in 2012, according to a company statement released in connection with its 2009 results.

A team of researchers from North America has shown that it is possible to reverse the process of aging in certain induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), potentially increasing their usefulness as future therapies for age-related degenerative disease.

AstraZeneca Plc has concluded a collaborative research agreement with the University of Pennsylvania in the US to generate new drug candidates for Alzheimer’s disease. Financial details were not disclosed.

The European Medicines Agency is recommending that the cancer drug, Tarceva (erlotinib), be approved for maintenance treatment in patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. This represents a new treatment option.

Neovacs SA, a privately-held company with a novel therapy for treating arthritis and several other diseases, is making an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares on the NYSE-Euronext in Paris.

Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the technology transfer arm of the charity, Cancer Research UK, has reached an agreement with Cephalon Inc of the US to develop new small molecule drugs targeting members of the protein kinase C family.

TiGenix NV of Belgium has moved quickly to commercialise its cell therapy for knee injuries, five months after getting marketing approval in Europe. The product is the first cell therapy to be approved under new EU legislation for advanced therapies.

Pfizer Inc has reached an agreement with King’s College London to site a small team of its scientists at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Disease at the King’s Guys campus in London to conduct basic research into the biology of pain.

The privately-held Swiss company, 4-Antibody AG, has entered into a long-term collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim to discover and develop antibodies against a number of undisclosed targets. The deal is valued at €177.5 million