News

The Medicon Valley Academy changed its name to Medicon Valley Alliance, effective 1 July 2007.

The European Commission is to consider ten new medicinal products for orphan designation. The products are:

Intercytex Group Plc announced on 26 June, 2007 that its replacement for skin grafts was successful in a Phase I trial, representing the first time that laboratory-made, living human skin has been fully and consistently integrated into the human body.

The Wellcome Trust, Britain’s biggest medical charity, has allocated £79 million from 2007 to 2010 for seed projects that commercial investors would not ordinarily touch.

The European Commission has issued a call for proposals to carry out a series of projects under its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) on health, including proposals specifically targeted at small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), according to Ludovica Serafini of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Research.

Two orphan designated medicinal products have been recommended by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for licensing in Europe, according to an agency press release.

Shire Plc has agreed to pay up to $825 million for an experimental drug for the prevention and reduction of scarring in connection with surgery. The licensing agreement, with Renovo Group Plc, would give Shire exclusive rights to market the drug, called Juvista, in every country except the member states of the European Union.

There are a growing number of instances where charitable organisations can provide money to profit-making companies and still demonstrate that they are working in the public interest, according Richard Seabrook, head of business development at the Wellcome Trust.

Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics AMT Holding NV, which develops gene-based therapies for orphan diseases, raised €50 million in an initial public offering on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

Swedish biotech companies increased their pipeline of drug candidates substantially in 2007 compared with a year earlier, according to a survey conducted by SwedenBio, an industry association, and two government agencies, Invest in Sweden Agency (ISA) and Vinnova.