The Pharming Group NV is set to receive $15 million upfront from Santarus Inc as part of a commercialisation deal for North America for Rhucin, its recombinant protein for hereditary angioedema. Pharming is planning an FDA filing soon.
The Zurich-based investment management firm, Nextech Invest Ltd has raised €26 million for its third fund, which invests in companies developing novel oncology products. This brings the total raised for oncology since 1999 to €121 million.
Novartis International AG said that the Russian health authority has approved its oral therapy for the treatment of relapsing, remitting multiple sclerosis, Gilenya (fingolimod). Earlier, Russia approved a competing MS drug from Merck Serono.
Galápagos NV is set to acquire GlaxoSmithKline’s Zagreb, Croatia-based research site as well as provide research and development services to the UK multinational in a three-year fee-for-service contract.
Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd of Switzerland has been awarded a $900,000 grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation in the US to help fund a Phase 2 study of its candidate treatment for Parkinson’s disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia, ADX48621.
Regulators meeting in London on 2 and 3 September 2010 agreed that procedures in place to assess the current generation of nanomedicines are adequate. But as nanotechnology advances, adaptations will be necessary.
The Roche Group has launched a review of its staffing levels and other expenses in light of pressure on revenue from healthcare reform in the US and Europe and set-backs in its late-stage drug pipeline. Details will be announced before the end of 2010.
Forbion Capital Partners has raised €190 million for investment in the life sciences in what the managing partner described as conditions that have never been more challenging.
In the realm of nanotechnology, size matters. But exactly what is meant by ‘nanoscale’ and ‘nanomedicine’ is still open for discussion. This was one of the themes to emerge from the first day of a two-day workshop on nanotechnology which is being hosted by the European Medicines Agency in London.
The US Food and Drug Administration has issued its second ‘complete response letter’ to the AstraZeneca unit, MedImmune, rejecting its application to market motavizumab, a new monoclonal antibody for respiratory syncytial virus disease.