Trubion co-founder out in shake-up; PolyMedix garners $21M for mid-stage trials;

> Trubion CEO Dr. Peter Thompson, who co-founded the company, has retired in a management shakeup. Trubion says that Thompson was leaving to pursue other interests and Steven Gillis was named acting president. Michelle Burris, Trubion's senior vice president and chief financial officer, was named chief operating officer while John Bencich, senior director of finance and accounting, was promoted to vice president and CFO. Trubion release [1] | Report [2]

> PolyMedix has raised $20.7 million in equity financing. "This financing gives PolyMedix the ability to continue the clinical development of our two lead drug programs into Phase 2 clinical trials," said CEO Nicholas Landekic. PolyMedix release [3]

> Trading in shares of Australia's Prima Biomed was halted pending an announcement on a new vaccine for cervical cancer. Report [4]

> Onyx Pharmaceuticals has wrapped up its $276 million deal to buy South San Francisco-based Proteolix. Story [5]

> Metabolix netted $29 million from its public offering. Report [6]

> Regulators at the FDA are asking if Pfizer's new Prevnar 13 vaccine should be given marketing approval despite missing certain trial goals. Story [7]

> Galapagos announced that it has started a Phase II clinical study to evaluate Nanocort's effectiveness in treating flares in multiple sclerosis. Galapagos release [8]

Pharma News

> Following last week's FDA hearing, there's a feast of food for thought on social media and pharma. Report [9]

> Pharma is once again at the epicenter of a battle over healthcare reform. Already resentful of the $80 billion cost-cutting deal the White House and Senate struck with drugmakers, House members got more ammo yesterday from the much-ballyhooed drug-price survey that showed pharma raising prices an average of 8.9 percent. Report [10]

> The Arbiter 6 trial results may have gone against Merck's Zetia, but Wall Street nonetheless breathed a sigh of relief. The data wasn't as damaging as some had feared. Report [11]

> Genzyme needs to clean up its act--again [12]. The FDA has notified the company of new problems at its main plant in Allstons Landing, MA, which was shut down for decontamination in June. Report [13]

Biotech Research News

> PETA has stirred controversy in Utah after one of its activists infiltrated the state university's biomedical research lab and used hidden cameras to spy on their activities and document what it claims is abusive treatment of lab animals. Report [14]

> Harvard Medical School associate professor of systems biology Roy Kishony has been studying the reasons why some combo drug therapies work and others don't. Understanding why certain drugs work well or poorly together can help researchers identify the cellular functions they attack. Report [15]

> Researchers have been using the drug mannitol to overcome a barrier to treating the brain  Report [16]

> Two years ago the revelation that Merck's experimental AIDS vaccine actually increased the risk of infection [17] among the people who volunteered for a clinical trial proved a serious blow to the whole research field, which it is still recovering from. But now researchers at Imperial College of London believe they have figured out what went wrong. Report [18]

And Finally... Titanium dioxide nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a study conducted by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Release [19]