SHANGHAI – While the presidents from the U.S. and China have met in a summit to address human rights and cyber-attack issues, it's become clear that U.S. biopharmaceutical firms have not been immune to targeted hacking out of China. These efforts may have yielded valuable data from clinical trials or drug registration applications. Read More
SHANGHAI – BeiGene Co. Ltd. has licensed a second-generation BRAF inhibitor as a promising preclinical candidate oncology drug to Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, for the treatment of melanoma, colorectal cancer and other cancers. Read More
With data from the first clinical trial of anti-TNF polyclonal antibody AVX-470 in ulcerative colitis (UC) due toward the end of this year, Avaxia Biologics Inc. shored up its balance sheet with an additional $5 million, bringing its total Series B funding to $11.4 million. Read More
Researchers have gained new insights into the structure of an unusual type of antibody that is made mainly by cows. They hope those insights will ultimately allow them to make antibodies for indications where traditional antibodies have not been successful. Read More
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has been at the center of a vortex of controversy since the FDA handed down a complete response letter on the Toll-like receptor 3 modulator Ampligen (rintatolimod) from Hemispherx Bioscience Inc. – the only drug in development for CFS – despite the impassioned pleas of patients at an Arthritis Advisory Committee meeting in December 2012. Read More
• Affymax Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., received a determination letter from Nasdaq delisting the company's common stock from Nasdaq as of June 6. Effective on that date, its common stock now trades for quotation on the OTCQB, an electronic quotation service operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. for eligible securities traded over-the-counter. Read More
• Esperion Therapeutics Inc., of Plymouth, Mich., reported top-line results from a Phase IIa trial of ETC-1002 for hypercholesterolemia in patients with a history of intolerance to two or more statins. Read More
• Pfizer Inc., of New York, began a Phase I trial of PF-06410293 (adalimumab), its biosimilar version of Humira. The trial will enroll about 210 subjects. Read More
Researchers from the Swedish Karolinska Institutet have used the consequences of nuclear testing in the 1960s to estimate the rate at which new neurons are born in adult human brains. Read More