News

Europe’s IPO market reopens. After remaining dormant since early 2008, the European market for initial public offerings (IPOs) of biotech companies has reopened with a

 Neovacs SA of France has initiated a Phase 2a study of its tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) kinoid immunotherapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Novartis International AG said it plans to seek regulatory approval this year to expand the use of two marketed cancer drugs, and to make up to five oncology submissions in 2010. The company made the forecast on 9 December 2009.

Cosmo Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. is offering to acquire a 2002 Roche spin-out for CHF 41.3 million (€27.4 million) giving it access to a novel treatment for pain, and research and development assets that could lead to drugs for urological indications.

Phytopharm Plc has obtained underwriting commitments to increase its share capital by 267% following the announcement in October 2009 of favourable results from two studies of Cogane, the company’s treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

Curetis AG, a German diagnostics company, has raised €18.5 million in a Series A round in order to complete development of its diagnostic products for detecting severe infectious diseases. The round was led by Life Sciences Partners.

The UK regenerative medicines company, Intercytex Group Plc, whose lead product failed at Phase 3, has announced plans to eventually wind up its business once it has disposed of all of its stem-cell and related assets.

The Roche group has decided to discontinue development of an antibody created by Genmab A/S to treat cancer, in part because of the large number of molecules already in development targeting the same pathway. Safety was not an issue, Genmab said.

Researchers from France and Spain have reported being able to produce human skin tissue in mice from human embryonic stem cells, a finding that could have application for patients with burn injuries. The preclinical study was reported in The Lancet.

Scientists in Cambridge, UK have reported that children who are severely obese have a common genetic mutation that appears to predispose them to the disease from an early age. The findings were published on 6 December 2009 in the journal, Nature.