AstraZeneca, Aussie biotech outfit ally in $240M-plus discovery deal
AstraZeneca's partnership spree of the last two months has gone Down Under. As the company shrinks its internal research work force, AstraZeneca has tapped Brisbane, Australia-based Alchemia to hunt for small molecule drugs against multiple disease targets.
Roche restructuring will affect 170 jobs in Europe, U.S.
Roche today said that its Applied Science Business Area will be dissolved and its portfolio of products integrated within Roche's other diagnostics business areas--a move that will affect 110 positions in Penzberg, Germany, and 60 positions in Branford, CT.
BIO: R&D execs say tweaks boost drug-development process
While the success rate in developing new disease treatments remains alarmingly low, a cadre of R&D executives from some of the world's biggest drug developers insisted at BIO that they've zeroed in on a number of ways to boost the chance a promising drug will actually reach patients.
Chicago uses its turn in BIO spotlight to promote incubator plans
The city of Chicago is hoping to take advantage of the spotlight of the annual BIO convention to build up its biotech cred a little. City officials later today are expected to announce plans to set up an incubator and research and collaboration hub in the downtown area.
Moody's: Deep-pocketed pharma giants poised to boost M&A activity this year
Here's a multibillion-dollar question: With their improved cash positions, will pharma companies increase spending this year on acquisitions? Over at Moody's, analysts predict that the answer to this question will be "yes" and deep-pocketed pharma companies will spend big dollars on M&A deals.
Gilead keeps lead in hep C race after rivals post key trial results
After delivering data from multiple rounds of trials on all-oral combos against hepatitis C, pharma runners appear to be making progress with new therapies that could shorten treatment durations and wipe out the liver-damaging virus without infusions of interferon and the flulike side effects that go with them.
E&Y: Biotech budget hawks rule the roost in year of mixed performance
Public biotech companies around the world stayed on a healthy pace last year, boosting top and bottom-line revenue together and extending a solid improvement in the industry's financial performance into its third year, according to Ernst & Young's annual checkup on the numbers.
GlaxoSmithKline and Avalon Ventures forge $495M biotech startup alliance
The London-based drug giant has partnered with veteran life sciences investors at Avalon Ventures to bankroll a crop of drug-hunting startups in San Diego, with GSK committing the bulk of the alliance's $495 million to fuel the new companies.
Updated: EU pharma CEOs earned 46% less than U.S. peers
CEO pay in Europe continues to be a flashpoint given the high unemployment and austerity measures the workaday folk on the continent face.
Elan spurns buyout offer, preps for deal spree
Elan's board of directors has rejected an $11.25-per-share bid by Royalty Pharma, and some analysts say that at this point there's not much likelihood that Royalty can win out in the end.
Bristol-Myers rebounds on hep C front with new Merck partnership
Like most of its new drug programs in recent years, Merck's work on new hepatitis C drugs has never quite paid off as hoped. Now it's taken its lead clinical-stage program for MK-5172 and tied up with Bristol-Myers Squibb to test a combo approach with daclatasvir.
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AstraZeneca works both sides of the Atlantic in forging new cancer drug deals
While AstraZeneca's busy business development team was fashioning a new discovery deal with Bind Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA, it was also polishing a pact in the other Cambridge.
AstraZeneca and Boston biotech unite to blast cancer with a nanotech drug
The drug giant, which is in the process of renovating its R&D wing, has hired on the crafty Cambridge, MA-based biotech Bind Therapeutics to work on a kinase inhibitor nanotech drug for treating cancer.
India's clinical trial industry shrivels in wake of safety controversy
With new regulations in place following a hullaballoo over the number of deaths recorded in drug studies, it appears as if the once-thriving clinical trial business is barely registering a heart beat.
Merck peddles a pair of neuroscience programs to Baltimore biotech
Report: Don't count Celltrion out of Rituxan biosim race
Celltrion prematurely ended a Phase III trial for a biosimilar version of Roche's ($RHHBY) big seller Rituxan, but the South Korea-based biotech has plans to revive late-stage development of its copycat candidate in the second half of 2013, BioPharm Insight reported.
Civitas Parkinson's drug improves motor fluctuations in Phase II trial
Alkermes spinout Civitas Therapeutics today reported positive topline results from a Phase II clinical trial of its Parkinson's drug CVT-301, which uses a respiratory delivery system to provide quick relief to patients experiencing motor fluctuations common to long-term treatment of the disease.
Pharma giants' oral EPO alternatives could cater to dopers
GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty has high hopes for an experimental pill his company is developing for anemia, as the drug could offer an oral alternative to injected EPO therapies.
