News

CeNeS Pharmaceuticals Plc said it is in discussions which may or may not lead to an offer for the company.

GE Healthcare, the medical diagnostics unit of General Electric Co. of the US, has made a cash offer for all the shares of Whatman Plc, a British supplier of filters and membranes for laboratory research.

A committee of the House of Commons has raised questions about the Labour government’s commitment to a proposed new medical centre for central London following the disclosure that the Treasury has clawed back £92 million from savings accumulated by the Medical Research Council for financing the project.

A proposal to create a single jurisdiction for the litigation of patent disputes in the European Union is gathering political support.

Exiqon A/S, a Danish supplier of gene expression analysis products, has disclosed details of its planned acquisition of Oncotech Inc., a privately-held US company that develops and sells diagnostic tests to optimise treatments for cancer patients.

Stem Cell Sciences Plc (SCS) has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) of Saratoga, California, to produce specific types of human brain cells from stem cell lines derived from foetal tissue.

Ipsen SA of France has signed a memorandum of understanding with The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, to carry out basic research on proliferative and degenerative diseases.

Circassia Holdings Ltd, a spin out from Imperial College London, has completed a second financing round with an £11 million equity placement, which will be used in part to finance its Phase 2 clinical testing programme for a candidate vaccine for cat allergy.

Pharming Group NV said that its appeal against a rejection by the European regulator of Rhucin, its proposed treatment for patients with acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE), is underway and a final decision is expected in the second quarter of 2008

Pharmexa A/S is testing the stock market’s appetite for risk at a time when risk-taking has become unfashionable.