AbbVie grabs rights to biotech startup's anti-gluten drug for $70M upfront
The pharma giant has secured rights to an experimental therapy for celiac disease from Alvine Pharmaceuticals for $70 million in upfront payments and the promise of more money down the road.
Cornell investigators see promising response for anti-cocaine jab
A novel vaccine developed by a team at Weill Cornell Medical College has shown success at reducing the amount of cocaine that reaches the brain.
Cempra snags $70M antibiotic pact with Japan's Toyama
Toyama Chemical, a subsidiary of FujiFilm, is paying $10 million upfront and promising up to $60 million more in milestones in exchange for the exclusive commercial rights to the antibiotic solithromycin in Japan.
Suspicious lawmakers query FDA's Hamburg on sudden departure of deputy commish
A revolving door inside the FDA has captured the attention of a group of Republican lawmakers in Congress. Just a few months after Leona Brenner-Gati was named Acting Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco to replace the outgoing Steven Spielberg, who served only a brief stint at the post, Brenner-Gati is gone as well.
UPDATED: Third Rock Ventures expands roster with Alnylam's CEO and Genzyme/Sanofi vet
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals CEO John Maraganore has joined Third Rock in the advisory role of venture partner, reunited in a way with his former Millennium Pharmaceuticals colleagues who launched the venture firm 6 years ago.
Astellas chops OSI, Perseid ops in global R&D restructuring
Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma is rolling out a major R&D restructuring effort, shuttering facilities at its OSI Pharmaceuticals and Perseid Therapeutics subsidiaries and cutting back its work at the Astellas Research Institute of America to focus solely on CNS diseases.
J&J's hep C drug simeprevir gets inside track at the FDA
The agency is providing a priority review for the therapy (TMC435) in combination with interferon and ribavirin, possibly speeding its way to the market.
Vectura joins forces with a new JV biotech in China for respiratory therapies
The U.K.'s Vectura has thrown its dry powder inhaler technology into a newly established Chinese joint venture biotech that is setting out to develop and commercialize new respiratory treatments for a growing Asian market.
AbbVie's senior R&D exec Leonard joins exodus from the top ranks
The epidemic of retirements among top R&D executives is continuing with the news that AbbVie's senior researcher is headed for the exits. AbbVie filed forms with the SEC on Friday saying that John Leonard, the company's senior vice president and CSO will be leaving in the coming months. And the company says that one of his last acts will be advising the company on his successor.
Industry Voices: VC questions thinking of Obama's BRAIN initiative
Projects like the moon landing and the Human Genome Project, and now possibly BRAIN, will be among the hallmarks of our civilization, the tracks we leave on the sands of time. Undertakings of this scale and scope with payouts measured in the future of mankind exceed the resources of any individual, even a Bill Gates or a Paul Allen, and the largest research institutes and corporations, though their involvement enhances the program. So what is my concern regarding BRAIN? More >>
Class action suits pile up at Aveo's doorstep in wake of FDA debacle
Now that Aveo's share price has been badly mauled in the aftershock of an FDA panel vote rejecting its kidney cancer drug tivozanib, the class action suits are starting to pile up at the front door.
Next-gen cancer immunotherapies will step into the spotlight at ASCO
With ASCO looming at the end of this month, previews of the world's most anticipated new cancer drugs are getting under way. And today Bloomberg's Robert Langreth leads off with a collection of experimental immunotherapies which have grabbed the industry's attention with their blockbuster potential.
UPDATED: Elan pays $1B for a slice of Theravance's COPD franchise royalty stream
Elan has struck a deal to pay a billion dollars for a share of Theravance's future royalties on Breo and a slate of other respiratory drugs now in development, announcing the deal right on the heels of Breo's approval in the U.S. on Friday.
UPDATED: GlaxoSmithKline gains blockbuster FDA approval of lung drug Breo
GlaxoSmithKline and Theravance have won FDA approval for their drug Breo Ellipta for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the third-biggest killer of Americans, the agency announced. The approval comes with an undesirable boxed warning from the agency that LABA therapies boost risk of asthma-related deaths.
Biotech insiders cheer IPO comeback after long 'winter' for going public
The biopharma industry racked up two more IPOs thisweek, with the monster deal for pharma services firm Quintiles and public debut of MS drug developer Receptos.
Pain Therapeutics, Durect shares nosedive on haziness for Pfizer's Remoxy
Pfizer hasn't decided whether to pursue additional work to seek FDA approval for the storied painkiller Remoxy, and faces a decision on the continuance of the program, sending shares of two companies with financial stakes in the candidate crashing down this morning.
Eli Lilly jettisons cancer contender after another Phase III failure
The Indianapolis-based drug giant has slammed the brakes on development of enzastaurin, which failed to meet the main goal for boosting disease-free survival in a Phase III study of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
Anna Protopapas replaces Deborah Dunsire as Millennium oncology head
Biotech VC firm Frazier Healthcare closes in on $300M fund
Frazier Healthcare has grabbed commitments of $281.8 million toward a targeted $300 million for the venture firm's seventh fund, according to an SEC filing. The firm seeks to raise half as much as the $600 million it secured for its previous fund launched in 2008, yet the crew at Frazier have done well enough to survive a serious drought fundraising for VC outfits.
Henri Termeer rediscovers the 'Genzyme feel' in world of biotech startups
Two years after leaving the biotech giant Genzyme, Henri Termeer has found increased demand for his expertise and personal resources from a growing crowd of startups in the Boston area and The Netherlands, he told FierceBiotech in an interview. Read more >>
