News

Roche Holding AG reported stagnant sales and earnings in 2008 because the strength of its accounting currency, the Swiss franc, wiped out gains in local currencies.

The Dutch public-private partnership, Top Institute Pharma (TI Pharma), is helping fund a project aimed at developing a vaccine for Chikungunya, an insect-borne virus that can cause disability. There is currently no vaccine available for the disease. The project has a budget of €2.3 million which will be jointly funded by TI Pharma and members of the research consortia.

Celtic Pharma Holdings Advisors LLP (CPHA) has picked a diagnostic devices company for the first investment of its new fund, Celtic Pharma Holdings II LP (CP2).

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to spend $34 million over 11 years on programmes to reduce the spread of tropical diseases in the poorest countries of the world. The funding was announced on 30 January 2009, and follows an announcement by Mr Gates that the foundation will significantly increase spending in 2009 on a range of projects, including biomedical research and healthcare.

DNA Therapeutics SA, a privately-owned French company with a novel method of weakening cancerous tumours, has obtained commitments for €2.2 million of A-round financing provided certain milestones are met.

Bavarian Nordic A/S of Denmark has re-filed a patent infringement suit against Oxford BioMedica Plc in the US District Court for the Southern District of California claiming infringement of Bavarian Nordic’s US patents relating to a viral vector, Oxford BioMedica said.

Genmab A/S of Denmark and its partner, GlaxoSmithKline, are asking the US Food and Drug Administration to approve ofatumumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Roche has announced plans to tender for all of the shares in Genentech Inc that it doesn’t already own at a price of $86.50 per share. The offer replaces an earlier offer of $89 per share that was rejected by a committee of independent directors advising Genentech on 13 August 2008. Roche said its new offer will be made directly to Genentech’s shareholders.

Alnylam to start Phase 1 trial of RNAi therapeutic

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc to start enrolling patients in a Phase 1 study of an RNAi therapeutic to treat liver cancers. The compound, ALN-VSP, is designed to target two genes which are critical in the growth and development of cancer: kinesin spindle protein which is required for tumour proliferation and vascular endothelial growth factor, which is required for tumour growth. The proposed study is a multi-center, open label, dose escalation trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intravenous ALN-VSP in patients with advanced solid tumours with liver involvement

Novartis AG has announced a 25% increase in its dividend for 2008 to CHF 2 per share following a double-digit rise in net income over the past year. The Swiss-based multinational said it expects record results again in 2009.