News

Shire Plc, the British speciality pharmaceutical company, posted a decline in revenue because of generic competition in the third quarter.

Sanofi-Aventis has raised its earnings guidance for 2009 in light of expected income in the fourth quarter from sales of its pandemic flu vaccine. Earnings per share are now expected to rise by 11% this year, instead of the previously-forecast 10% rise.

Proximagen Neuroscience Plc, a King’s College London spin-out that recently raised £50 million on Britain’s junior stock market, has expanded its portfolio of CNS drug candidates with the acquisition of Cambridge Biotechnology Ltd.

Unexpectedly strong US sales of an off-patent beta-blocker, together with sales of a new pandemic flu vaccine, drove up revenue at AstraZeneca Plc by 10% in the third quarter. For 2009, the company sees sales growth in the mid-to-high single digits.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc reported a 3% increase in turnover at constant exchange rates in the 2009 third quarter as it shifted its marketing efforts towards the developing world, Japan and consumer healthcare.

Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc, a contract research organisation based in Wilmington, North Carolina, is to invest $100 million in Celtic Therapeutics Holdings LP, itself an investor in mid-stage drug candidates.

MorphoSys AG expects that outlays for product development and technology in 2009 will amount to between €18 million to €20 million, more than double the level a year earlier. Revenue at the German antibody company is forecast at €80 to €85 million.

Genmab A/S is set to receive DKK 116 million ($23 million) from GlaxoSmithKline following the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of its monoclonal antibody for cancer, Arzerra (ofatumumab).

The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Rega Institute for Medical Research, both in Belgium, have announced the receipt of a €2.8 million from the Wellcome Trust to research a treatment for dengue fever.

There has been a recent surge in new confirmed cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) associated with the multiple sclerosis drug, Tysabri (natalizumab), with the 24^th case reported to the EMEA on 25 October.