News

Europe’s biggest public-private partnership in the life sciences, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), is awarding the equivalent of €246 million to 15 research projects.

The new chief executive officer of MediGene AG has said that partnering negotiations for the pancreatic cancer drug, EndoTAG-1, have reached an 'advanced stage' and management is weighing up its options.

Three European venture investors have topped up a Series A financing for the privately-held US company, Anaphore Inc, which is developing a new generation of protein therapeutics.

The AstraZeneca Plc subsidiary, KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd, has increased its investment in a programme at Newcastle University that seeks to develop drugs inhibiting DNA-dependent protein kinase, thereby improving cancer treatments.

Sepracor Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a subsidiary of Sepracor Inc of Marlborough, Mass., has withdrawn its marketing authorisation application for an insomnia drug from the EMEA because the regulator refused to recognise it as a new active substance.

Max Planck Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer arm of the Max Planck Society, has announced the launch of a new €100 million fund to invest in pharmaceutical projects originating from the society’s research organisations.

In successfully seeking regulatory approval for its first-in-man study of an embryonic stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury, Geron Corporation took great care to characterise all of its materials and processes.

Companies developing new cell and tissue-engineered products shouldn’t expect to see much venture funding for their activities at least until the current recession bottoms out and economic growth resumes, according to a US venture capitalist.

Evotec AG is downgrading its proprietary discovery and development business and instead emphasizing its research services to third parties.

NovImmune SA of Switzerland has raised CHF 62.5 million in a private share placement with existing and new investors. The proceeds will be used to take control of two therapeutic monoclonal antibodies previously licensed to Merck Serono.