Basilea wins approval; Bayhill yanks IPO; Gemin X garners $38M in venture funding;

> Switzlerand's Basilea Pharmaceutica says that Canadian regulators have approved its super bug-fighting antibiotic ceftobiprole. That's a first for the drug, which will be reviewed by a number of countries. And analysts say that a Canadian approval improves its prospects in the U.S. and Europe. Report [1]

> Gemin X Pharmaceuticals has closed a $38 million tranched Series C financing. The financing was led by the Caxton Advantage Life Sciences Fund and Caxton Global. Release [2]

> Takeda has filed an NDA with Japanese regulators for the cancer drug panitumumab. Report [3]

> Faced with a badly roiled market, Bayhill Therapeutics has cancelled plans for an $86 million IPO. Report [4]

> United Therapeutics has filed an NDA to the FDA for an inhaled formulation of treprostinil, a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Report [5]

> Aradigm Corporation announced positive results from an open-label, two week efficacy and safety study of its once daily inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin in patients with cystic fibrosis. The study conducted at leading CF centers in Australia and New Zealand enrolled a total of 22 patients. Release [6]

> One analyst thinks that BMS's recent moves indicate the company will be looking for a buyer. BMS report [7]

> Last week, the U.K. tapped GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix as its preferred HPV vaccine [8], clearing the way for the National Health Service to put it on every young British girl's shot program. But in the U.S., the vaccine probably won't be OK'd for sale until late 2009. Report [9]

> Last week, the news from the U.K. was all about restrictions, as the National Institute for Clinical Health and Excellence refused to pay for Roche's cancer treatment Avastin. This week, the British government is pledging the opposite. Report [10]

> Under pressure, pharma companies are looking for new indications for old drugs to boost sales. Report [11]

> It's not pleasant company at the bottom of this list. According to a new Harris Interactive poll, only 26 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the drug industry--a record that's even worse than Big Oil, and better only than tobacco companies. Report [12]

And Finally... Researchers at the University of Bath say that a bacterium that causes Lyme disease originated in Europe, rather than in North America as previously thought, arriving before the Ice Age. Release [13]