News

The US Food and Drug Administration has asked Genmab A/S for an updated analysis of safety data for the monoclonal antibody, zalutumumab, which is being investigated for head and neck cancer.

In a second collaboration between two Big Pharma companies this year, AstraZeneca Plc and Merck & Co have announced plans to investigate the possible use of their respective, early-stage cancer treatments together, as a co-administered treatment.

GlaxoSmithKline has announced a collaboration worth up to $1 billion with Concert Pharmaceuticals of Lexington, Mass, involving the use of deuterium chemistry to create novel small molecule drugs.

The European Medicines Agency has given positive opinions to three new drugs, two of which are intended for patients suffering from cancer. The agency also recommended new uses for three already approved drugs.

GPC Biotech AG said that the new Germany-based biotechnology company that will be created following its merger with Agennix Inc of Texas should have enough cash to fund operations into the second quarter of 2010.

NicOx SA said it is moving ahead with plans to file a new drug application (NDA) with the US Food and Drug Administration for its anti-inflammatory agent, naproxcinod, which has completed Phase 3 trials in patients with osteoarthritis.

Scientists have described a mechanism that appears to explain why patients with pancreatic cancer can be resistant to the chemotherapy drug, gemcitabine. Their findings appear in the May 2009 issue of Science.

Epigenomics AG has announced plans to work with the Munich Technical University and clinicians in Bavaria to test the viability of a blood-based biomarker for detecting precancerous lesions. The German government is helping to fund the project.

A consortium led by Exiqon A/S of Denmark has been awarded a DKK 24 million ($4.5 million) grant from the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation to develop a new diagnostic to detect colon cancer from a blood sample.

Sanofi Pasteur has received an order from the US government valued at $190 million to produce a vaccine against the A/H1N1 virus, which has been declared to have pandemic flu potential.