Guido Rasi, head of the Italian Medicines Agency, has been nominated to become the new executive director of the European Medicines Agency, following the departure of Thomas Lönngren who completed two terms on 31 December 2010.
Pfizer Inc has received institutional review board approval to start a virtual clinical trial in the US that uses mobile telephone and web-based technology to collect data from participants rather than requiring them to visit clinics.
Merck & Co and Austria’s Intercell AG have announced the end of a Phase 2/3 clinical trial of a vaccine for the prevention of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection. Trial enrolment had previously been suspended in April.
4SC AG has announced that a Phase 2b trial of its small molecule inhibitor of pro-inflammatory cytokines, vidofludimus, failed to meet its primary endpoint in a Phase 2b trial of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Ipsen SA has discontinued development of its steroid sulfatase inhibitor, Irosustat, as a monotherapy for the treatment of hormone-dependent cancers. Instead it will explore development of the drug in combination with other hormonal therapies.
A consortium of Belgian academic scientists and biotechnology companies has recruited ImaginAb Inc of Los Angeles, California to work on a project to develop new diagnostic tools to monitor beta cell depletion in adult-onset diabetes.
Algeta ASA’s investigational radiopharmaceutical (radium-223 chloride) that is being developed by Bayer Schering Pharma AG, has met its primary endpoint in a Phase 3 trial of patients with prostate cancer and bone metastases.
André Mueller, a Swiss entrepreneur and chairman of the board of directors at Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd, has become executive chairman of the company following the unexpected resignation of its chief executive, Vincent Mutel.
A Dutch molecular diagnostics company has announced plans to make an initial public offering of its shares on the NYSE Euronext exchange in Amsterdam to support the development and sales of its diagnostics.
In a major advance for personalised medicine, the UK Human Tissue Authority has authorised a new stem cell banking service that will extract adult stem cells from human blood samples and store them for up to 20 years for use against future disease.