News

Merck & Co has become the latest big pharmaceutical company to announce plans to source a significant part of its biomedical research programmes from outside the company.

The European Medicines Agency has given positive opinions for four medicines, one of which is AstraZeneca’s Iressa (gefitinib), a targeted treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. The positive opinion follows an earlier application withdrawal.

Pfizer Inc has announced plans to fund research into stem cell-based therapies for macular degeneration and other retinal diseases at University College London (UCL).

Merck & Co has announced plans to invest in a combination monoclonal antibody treatment which is being investigated for Clostridium difficile infection, the primary cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized elderly patients.

The Roche Group said that a Phase 3 trial of its antibody, Avastin (bevacizumab), plus chemotherapy, for the treatment of colon cancer immediately after surgery, did not meet its primary endpoint of lowering the risk of the cancer returning.

Actelion Ltd, the Swiss specialist pharmaceutical company, reported a 26.1% increase to CHF 405.6 million in net revenues for the first quarter as a result of continuing strong sales of Tracleer (bosentan), a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Tracleer sales rose by 22.5% to CHF 352.2 million and accounted for about 87% of first quarter revenue.

Privately-owned CellCentric of Cambridge, UK, has secured an agreement with the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain giving it access to intellectual property generated by Professors Ramin Shiekhattar and Luciano Di Croce in epigenetics.

Renovo Group Plc’s lead product for wound-healing, avotermin, has been highlighted by an editorialist in The Lancet as having possible further applications for a range of fibrotic disorders. The drug recently entered a Phase 3 trial for use in scar revision surgery.

Galápagos NV has signed a new multi-year research deal with Merck & Co to discover small molecule candidate drugs with potential for treating inflammatory diseases. The deal is the company’s second alliance with Merck this year.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Pfizer Inc have announced plans to put their assets in the area of HIV medicine into a new company that will concentrate on research and development in this disease area