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Other News To Note(BioWorld Today Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) , of Tokyo, said it was terminating its $16 per share offer for CV Therapeutics Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., and will not propose directors for CVT's board or make any other proposals for the firm. Astellas also intends to withdraw a related lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court against CVT and its directors. Astellas said it does not see value for its stockholders in CVT at the price level of $20 per share offered by Gilead Sciences, of Foster City, Calif., announced March 12. (See BioWorld Today, March 13, 2009.) ? BioAlliance Pharma SA, of Paris, received ?6.4 million (US$8.3 million) from OSEO, the French state innovation agency, to help the development of its therapeutic entities for the treatment of invasive cancers. The funding has been awarded to the Cancer Anti-invasive Program private-public consortium as part of OSEO's Strategic Industrial Innovation scheme. The consortium's total budget over five years is ?9.9 million, including a number of grants-in-aid and repayable advances. ? Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd., of Charlotte, N.C., filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its annual report for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008, contained a going concern qualification. ? CytRx Corp., of Los Angeles, said data from an animal stroke trial indicated that treatment with its molecular chaperone amplifier drug candidate, arimoclomol, initiated at either six, 10, 24 or 48 hours post-stroke, demonstrated neurorestorative ability based on multiple behavioral tests measuring motor and sensory recovery. The company said those data and other highly favorable preclinical results indicated that arimoclomol has the potential to restore brain function following stroke, even when administered well beyond the three-hour therapeutic window of t-PA, the currently approved treatment for stroke. The company said it is in discussions with the FDA about initiating a Phase II human stroke trial with the compound. ? Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., of Chadds Ford, Pa., extended the offering period again for its acquisition of all outstanding shares of Lexington, Mass.-based Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. The new deadline is March 18. As of March 13, the previous deadline, 89.3 percent of Indevus' shares had been tendered. Endo offered to buy Indevus earlier this year for $370 million, or $4.50 per share, but may pay up to $637 million if milestones are met. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 7, 2009.) ? ExonHit Therapeutics SA, of Paris, said data were published in Lancet Oncology describing the identification of a deregulated cell function in breast cancer through the analysis of alternative RNA splicing. Study data demonstrated that exons are expressed differently in malignant and benign lesions, and alternative transcripts determine the molecular characteristics of breast malignancy. ? Forma Therapeutics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., signed a collaboration with the Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC) of Singapore under which ETC will access Forma's chemistry platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. Earlier this year, Forma received a $25 million Series A financing from Singapore-based Bio*One Capital and the Novartis Option Fund, and the company signed technology deals with Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland, and with Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 13, 2009, and Jan. 27, 2009.) ? Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., said the U.S. Department of Justice declined to intervene in three lawsuits filed against the company under the False Claims Act. The company said it will defend matters vigorously if the plaintiffs pursue their allegations. ? GTC Biotherapeutics Inc., of Framingham, Mass, said it terminated its 2005 contract with LEO Pharma AS, of Ballerup, Denmark, for commercialization and development of ATryn, a recombinant form of human antithrombin, in Europe, Canada and the Middle East. GTC also said it is seeking damages from LEO under International Chamber of Commerce arbitration procedures. LEO had indicated last fall that it wanted to transfer the program to another partner. GTC said it has been working toward achieving that objective while at the same time ensuring that LEO met its contractual obligations. ATryn was approved in 2006 in the European Union for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary antithrombin deficient patients undergoing surgical procedures. The FDA approved ATryn in February as a therapy to prevent perioperative and peripartum thromboembolic events in patients with hereditary antithrombin deficiency at high risk of developing blood clots during surgery or before or after childbirth. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 9, 2009.) ? Lyndor Biosciences LLC, of New York, a subsidiary of Samtheo Biopharma LLC, acquired exclusive worldwide rights to a small-molecule Akt inhibitor from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. Financial terms were not disclosed. Preclinical data on the compound, now called LD-101, were presented last year at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. ? MannKind Corp., of Valencia, Calif., submitted a new drug application to the FDA for Afresa (insulin monomer human [rDNA origin]) inhalation powder and the Afresa Inhaler for the treatment of adults with Type I or Type II diabetes mellitus for the control of hyperglycemia. Afresa is an ultra-rapid-acting insulin and a drug-device combination consisting of the powder premetered into single-unit dose cartridges and the inhaler as the delivery device for oral inhalation. ? Nanogen Inc., of San Diego, received a delisting letter from Nasdaq due to nonpayment of outstanding fees as required for continued listing. The company's common stock will be suspended at the opening of business on March 23 unless an appeal is filed. The company said it does not plan to file an appeal. ? Neovacs SA, of Paris, said an article on anti-IFNa kinoid active immunization was published in the March 11, 2009, edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the article, researchers demonstrated the efficacy of an anti-IFNa kinoid active immunization approach in a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus. ? Oncolytics Biotech Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, said preclinical data showed the combination of reovirus with chemotherapy induced an additive effect in most cases of primary cultures of patient-derived epithelial ovarian cancer; however, a clear synergistic response was seen at certain dose combinations in more than 30 percent of the samples treated with reovirus and paclitaxel. The investigators concluded that the data supported a significant synergistic effect of reovirus and paclitaxel. Data will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Denver in April. ? Oncothyreon Inc., of Seattle, received a notice from Nasdaq that the company regained full compliance with the continued listing standards after 2008 financial results showed stockholders' equity as of Dec. 31, 2008, was $20.7 million. ? Roche AG, of Basel, Switzerland, said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Innovatis AG, of Bielefeld, Germany, for ?15 million (US$19.4 million). Innovatis will become a fully integrated part of Roche Applied Science, and will continue to develop and market products for cell analysis through Roche. ? Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Irvine, Calif., completed its previously announced acquisition of all rights to RIT Oncology LLC from Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics Inc. The two companies had formed RIT as a joint venture to market the radioimmunotherapy drug Zevalin ([90Y]-ibritumomab tiuxetan), but Spectrum bought out its partner last month for $16.5 million, subject to further adjustments for liabilities. Shares of Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTIC) gained 2 cents to close at 11 cents on Monday. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 24, 2009.) Copyright ? 2009 Thomson BioWorld, All Rights Reserved. |