Shopping among European collaborators for its drug-device pain combo known as Zalviso, Acelrx Pharmaceuticals Inc. “had a number of different suitors approach us,” with “a lot of very large-scale players interested,” said CEO Richard King. Read More
Founded barely 15 months ago to accelerate development of assets in-licensed from Amgen Inc., Atara Biotherapeutics secured its second round of funding, adding $38.5 million in the initial closing of its Series B round. Read More
Shares of Agenus Inc. bounced 12.7 percent Monday on Phase II results published in Neuro-Oncology showing more than 90 percent of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients treated with Prophage Series G-200 were alive at six months after surgery, and 30 percent survived 12 months, with median overall survival of 11 months. That is an improvement over typical median survival of three to nine months. Read More
LONDON – Crescendo Biologics Ltd. has raised £17.5 million (US$28 million) in a Series A funding that will enable it to take antibody technology into a new arena, as the basis of topical treatments for dermatological diseases. Read More
Though still very early stage, initial Phase II results testing Biolinerx Ltd.’s CXCR4 antagonist, BL-8040, in relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients caught the attention of Wall Street Monday, sending shares of the Jerusalem-based firm jumping 15 percent. Read More
With the goal of delivering early clinical data over the next 18 months to demonstrate the validity of its scientific approach and move from the pink sheets to a registered exchange, Ampliphi Biosciences Corp. inked agreements with a group of investors for an $18 million private placement. Read More
Microbiome Therapeutics LLC, of Broomfield, Colo., said it completed a $1.3 million bridge financing to support completion of two ongoing clinical studies and preparations for further clinical trials of lead product NM504, a microbiome modulator in development for Type II diabetes and prediabetes. NM504 is being studied in two placebo-controlled, double-blind, proof-of-concept trials. Read More
Ampio Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Greenwood Village, Colo., said it entered into a 10-year lease of a multipurpose facility located in the Denver Tech Center of Colorado. Renovation, beginning in early 2014, will provide commercial scale, FDA compliant, state-of-the art, GMP manufacturing of Ampion and an advanced R&D lab as well as office space to consolidate all company operations. Read More
Opko Health Inc., of Miami, will acquire Laboratorio Arama de Uraguay Limitada, of Montevideo, Uruguay, in a transaction expected to close in January 2014. Read More
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, reported new data from its Phase III trial, Startverso, which evaluated faldaprevir in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin (PegIFN/RBV) in patients with genotype-1 hepatitis C (HCV) who have not received previous treatment treatment-experienced patients, and HIV co-infected patients. Read More