age related macular degeneration news from FierceBiotech

> Shares of Acorda Therapeutics shot up after researchers released new late-stage data demonstrating that Fampridine consistently improved the walking speeds of MS patients. Read more...

Shares of QLT rocketed up 55 percent in a tense market yesterday after the biotech finished a lengthy task in persuading the FDA that a blood test should not be required before doctors prescribe its Read more...

> Here's statistical confirmation of the gloom-and-doom facing Big Pharma. Worldwide sales growth will Read more...

An upstart biotech company focused on developing new therapies targeted at the genetic variations linked to dry age-related macular degeneration has raised $37 million in its first round. New Haven, Read more...

Princeton, NJ-based Ophthotech is off and running with a first round of $36 million, an in-licensing deal on a promising approach to age-related macular degeneration and a management group with some Read more...

Genaera will cut its staff by 30 percent as it shutters its development program for Evizon, an experimental therapy that has been in mid-stage trials for wet age-related macular degeneration. Genaera reported disappointing results from the most recent mid-stage study. Company officials announced that Genaera now plans to shift its focus to trodusquemine (MSI-1436), a new obesity drug in Phase I as Banc of America Securities is brought on to explore "strategic alternatives."

"This …

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Genentech, Inc. and Tanox, Inc. today announced plans for Genentech to acquire Tanox, a biotechnology company specializing in the discovery and development of biotherapeutics based on monoclonal antibody technology, for $20 per share for a total cash value of approximately $919 million

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Just a year after buying Macugen from Eyetech  (a 2003 Fierce 15 company), OSI Pharmaceuticals is looking for a way out of the eye disease sector. The company reports that it is exploring licensing or selling Macugen and its research assets in the field. Analysts expect OSI to shift its attention to its pipeline, which includes a promising therapy for …

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Avid about RNAi, Merck has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to buy Sirna Therapeutics, acquiring its stock at more than twice its closing price on Monday. Although still some years from commercialization, there is growing evidence that RNA molecules can be used to block proteins linked to a host of diseases like cancer, hepatitis C and more. Merck has also has a …

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France's EyeGate Pharma has opened U.S. operations in Waltham, MA. EyeGate will focus on "iontophoretic technology to safely and non-invasively deliver therapeutics to the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye." President and CEO Stephen From will head up the company. From is a former venture capitalist and the CFO of Centelion SAS before it was bought out.

"My first hire at the company was Perry Calias, Ph.D., as VP, research and development," said From. "He was formerly …

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