News

OncoMethylome Sciences SA is to raise about €8.4 million with a private equity placement among three institutions, according to an announcement on 16 December 2008.

Austria’s Intercell AG said it plans to launch its new vaccine against Japanese encephalitis in Europe in early 2009 following receipt of a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use.

Cosmo Pharmaceuticals SpA, an Italian company specialising in developing and manufacturing treatments for gastro-intestinal diseases, has licensed two of its advanced drug candidates to Santarus Inc. of the United States in a deal that will leave Cosmo with a 10.5% holding in Santarus and with the possibility of acquiring more shares.

The top management at sanofi-aventis has changed following the appointment of Chris Viehbacher to the position of chief executive officer on 1 December 2008.

Privately-owned Cellzome Inc, which operates out of Cambridge, UK, and Heidelberg, Germany, has achieved the first milestone payment in its alliance with GlaxoSmithKline to identify kinase-targeted therapeutics for inflammatory diseases.

Evotec AG has unexpectedly announced the resignation of its president and chief executive officer, Jörn Aldag, effective 31 December 2008. Mr Aldag has been an executive with the company for 11 years. Mario Polywka, chief operating officer, and Klaus Maleck, chief financial officer, will jointly lead the company until a new chief executive is appointed, the company said.

The European Commission is proposing that pharmaceutical companies be allowed to provide prescription-drug information directly to consumers, provided this is not advertising.

Galapagos NV of Belgium has entered into a research collaboration with privately-held Dart Neuroscience LLC of San Diego, California, valued at €4.1 million to develop a cell-based assay for the US company’s drug discovery programmes for brain disorders.

MorphoSys AG has hired Arndt Schottelius from Genentech Inc to run its preclinical and clinical development activities.

Pharming Group NV of the Netherlands has purchased  €20.1 million of its 6.875% convertible bonds at face value with a combination of cash and shares.