News

Children who are diagnosed with cancer have the same prospect for survival as a parent who was also diagnosed with the same cancer.

Photocure ASA, a Norwegian company that has developed a photosensitive method of killing cancer cells, is ‘de-merging’ its 91.4%-owned subsidiary, PCI Biotech, by distributing shares in the subsidiary to its existing shareholders on a one-for-one basis.

Hybrigenics SA, a French proteomics specialist with a drug candidate in Phase 2 development for treating prostate cancer, is raising between €24.2 million and €28.1 million in an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares on the Alternext section of the Euronext Paris stock exchange.

Antisoma Plc said its lead cancer compound, ASA404 will enter Phase 3 for lung cancer in early 2008.

Olympus Corp of Japan has made an agreed cash offer of £935 million to buy all the shares of the Gyrus Group Plc, a British manufacturer of medical devices, including systems for laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures.

Cryo-Save Group NV, a Dutch company that preserves cord-blood stem cells for 20 years or more after the sample is taken at birth, has successfully floated its shares on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

The European Patent Convention (EPC), a multilateral treaty establishing the legal framework for patent awards in Europe, has been updated and the new agreement is scheduled to take effect on 13 December 2007. It succeeds the original Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973.

Patent judges from around Europe have signalled their support for a proposal that would create a single jurisdiction for the litigation of patent disputes in the European Union.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products has recommended that seven medicines be given orphan designation, thus qualifying them for financial and regulatory incentives.

Shares of Ablynx NV were trading at €7.15 per share on 9 November 2007, a slight premium above its issue price at its initial public offering (IPO) on the Euronext Brussels stock exchange two days earlier.