@FierceBiotech: Third Rock leads $30M round for antibody upstart. Article | Follow @FierceBiotech
@JohnCFierce: AstraZenceca/Rigel RA drug (subject of a $1.2B pact) gets promising data in IIb. Item | Follow @JohnCFierce
> Sanofi-Aventis, the French drug giant that has labs in Cambridge, MA, said it paid Dana Farber Cancer Institute of Boston $33 million to license technology for identifying cancer targets for new treatments. Item
> Human Genome Sciences is racing to manufacture the first stockpile of its now-flagship lupus drug candidate, Benlysta, recruiting a small army of sales reps and ramping up a national marketing campaign nearly three months before its anticipated federal approval decision date. Story
> Nora Therapeutics, which is developing therapeutics to address issues in womens' reproductive health, has raised $14.8 million of a targeted $32.55 million round, the company disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. News
> Yaupon Therapeutics, a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced positive top-line results from the pivotal multi-center study of its lead product candidate, a proprietary topical mechlorethamine gel for the treatment of early-stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL--stages I-IIa). Yaupon release
> Columbia, MD-based Martek Biosciences Corp. Thursday said it agreed to the $14 million sale of a "significant portion" of a Kentucky plant used to make a health supplement for infant formula. Report
> A biotech company developing a vaccine for avian influenza is leasing office and laboratory space in Middletown for research and testing. CytoGenix said Thursday that it will lease the space as part of a decision to move the company's corporate headquarters from Nevada to New York City. News
And Finally... Linda Buck, co-winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, retracted two papers on nerves that carry scents from the nose to the brain, according to scientific journals. The papers appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2005 and Science in 2006. They were retracted because the scientists couldn't reproduce findings by Buck's former postdoctoral researcher Zhihua Zou, the journals said in statements posted on their websites. Report