TiGenix NV of Belgium has moved quickly to commercialise its cell therapy for knee injuries, five months after getting marketing approval in Europe. The product is the first cell therapy to be approved under new EU legislation for advanced therapies.
Pfizer Inc has reached an agreement with King’s College London to site a small team of its scientists at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Disease at the King’s Guys campus in London to conduct basic research into the biology of pain.
The privately-held Swiss company, 4-Antibody AG, has entered into a long-term collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim to discover and develop antibodies against a number of undisclosed targets. The deal is valued at €177.5 million
Ablynx NV has raised €50 million in a secondary offering of its shares to support the development of its portfolio of therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments. The company now has a market capitalisation of about €327 million.
Pfizer Inc has announced that two Phase 3 studies of Sutent (sunitinib malate) in advanced breast cancer did not meet their primary endpoints. The drug is currently approved for gastrointestinal stromal tumour and advanced renal cell carcinoma. The company announced the trial results on 11 March 2010.
Ipsen SA of France is out-licensing two of its peptide therapeutics programmes that target metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders and obesity to Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, a venture capital-backed company in Boston, Massachusetts.
A Phase 3 trial of Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with docetaxel and prednisone in men with late-stage prostate cancer has failed to meet its primary endpoint of extending overall survival, the Roche Group announced.
Cellzome Inc said that it has secured a new drug discovery deal with GlaxoSmithKline under which the companies will seek to identify small-molecule drugs against epigenetic targets. Cellzome will receive €33 million upfront.
Novartis AG is raising $5 billion with a three-tranche bond issue to finance part of its pending acquisition of Alcon Inc, a large eye-care company with sales of approximately $6.5 billion in 2009.
A French producer of therapeutic vaccines for cancer has raised €13.1 million from private and public sources in order to bring its lead product, a therapeutic human papillomavirus vaccine, into the clinic.