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> Mannkind shares slid eight percent to $6.29 early Tuesday after the diabetes drug developer said that it plans to offer up to 8 million of its common shares as part of a share-lending agreement with Bank of America. Story
> Shares of Biocon surged to a 52-week high on Monday on rising speculation that global drug giant Pfizer is in talks with the Bangalore-based firm to buy a stake or strike a marketing alliance. Article
> Two recent studies provide evidence for a new approach to vaccines to prevent infections caused by drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus--better known as MRSA--the leading cause of skin and soft tissue, bloodstream and lung infections in the U.S. One demonstrates a way to counteract the bacteria's knack for evading the immune system. The other shows how to disrupt the germ's tissue-damaging mechanism. University of Chicago release
> BioMarin Pharmaceutical has reported that the first subject has initiated treatment in a Phase IIIb study (PKU-016) to evaluate the effects of Kuvan (sapropterin dihydrochloride) on neuropsychiatric symptoms in subjects with phenylketonuria (PKU). BioMarin expects to report results in the first half of 2012. BioMarin release
> BiondVax Pharmaceuticals has received the approvals of the ethics committees of the institutional review boards of both the Hadassah Clinical Research Center at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, to perform a Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of BiondVax's universal influenza vaccine candidate. BiondVax release
> Cryo-Cell International has announced an R&D collaboration agreement with Monash University in Australia. The partnership will allow scientists from the University's Centre of Inflammatory Diseases to conduct pre-clinical studies using Cryo-Cell's proprietary C'ellemenstrual stem cell technology (MenScs) to identify potential future therapies to treat autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Cryo-Cell release
And Finally... In the 100 years since the first moose swam into Lake Superior and set up shop on an island, they have mostly minded their moosely business, munching balsam fir and trying to evade hungry gray wolves. Many of the moose, it turns out, have arthritis. And scientists believe their condition's origin can help explain human osteoarthritis--by far the most common type of arthritis, affecting one of every seven adults 25 and older and becoming increasingly prevalent. Story