Stem Cell Sciences Plc (SCS) has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) of Saratoga, California, to produce specific types of human brain cells from stem cell lines derived from foetal tissue.
Ipsen SA of France has signed a memorandum of understanding with The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, to carry out basic research on proliferative and degenerative diseases.
Circassia Holdings Ltd, a spin out from Imperial College London, has completed a second financing round with an £11 million equity placement, which will be used in part to finance its Phase 2 clinical testing programme for a candidate vaccine for cat allergy.
Pharming Group NV said that its appeal against a rejection by the European regulator of Rhucin, its proposed treatment for patients with acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE), is underway and a final decision is expected in the second quarter of 2008
Pharmexa A/S is testing the stock market’s appetite for risk at a time when risk-taking has become unfashionable.
The UK Medical Research Council (MRC) is planning to spend £12 million over five years to create regional academic centres to investigate new methodologies for clinical trials.
Shares of Genmab A/S, which specialises in developing human antibodies for disease, retreated 6.8% to DKK 315 in early trading on the Nordic Stock Exchange on 29 January 2008 following a spike in the price a day earlier. The stock rose on rumours of a possible takeover bid by a large pharmaceutical or biotechnology company.
Medicines indicated for diabetes and containing rosiglitazone will be required to display a new warning on their labels stating that they should not be taken by patients with ischemic heart disease and/or peripheral arterial disease.
The UK regulator responsible for overseeing embryo research has decided to issue one-year licences to Kings College London and the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne to conduct research using embryos which have been created from some human and some animal material.
The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) is recommending that Thalidomide Pharmion (thalidomide) be approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the bone marrow.