AAKP Adds State Rep. to Board of Directors

TAMPA, Fla.—The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) has added Arkansas District 45 State Rep. Linda Tyler to its National Board of Directors. ...

NxStage Moves Corporate Headquarters

LAWRENCE, Mass.—NxStage Medical has entered into a new 11-year lease agreement with 350 Riverwalk LLC, to move its corporate headquarters. ...

Live from BIO: Day three in review

For real innovation, look beyond scienceby Maureen MartinoThe biotech and pharmaceutical industries are in the process of reevaluating their approach to R&D to address a myriad of economic and social realities. But if there's one thing that's clear, it's that companies are still capable of good science. Yes, developers are having a tough time moving that science from the bench to the clinic and ultimately to approval, but scientific discovery isn't the problem. Story E&Y: Biotechs have...

Endo pain drug flunks a Ph2 test

A little more than two years after in-licensing a pain drug from Grunenthal, Endo Pharmaceuticals said today that the treatment failed a mid-stage, placebo-controlled study for lower back pain. Endo said it would complete its analysis of the data on axomadol and then decide how it would proceed with the program. Endo...

Novartis unveils more promising Ph3 data on COPD program

Novartis continues to rack up an impressive set of late-stage data on NVA237, an experimental COPD treatment that is considered a likely winner at the FDA. The data demonstrated the treatment was better than a placebo and just as good as Spiriva. If Novartis sticks to schedule, a regulatory filing will come later this year and marketing approval may arrive in 2012. But the big money would come from a combo treatment matching NVA237 with indacaterol, a program dubbed QVA149 that could make it to...

Live from BIO: Making deals with Big Pharma

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the number of venture capital deals grows smaller and the patent cliff looms, Big Pharma is looking for quality deals with small biotechs, according to a panel at the BIO International Conference, and the industry is focusing first on the best science. The panel--which included representatives from GSK, AstraZeneca, Merck and Roche--emphasized the delicate balance between their internal R&D efforts and the need for biotech deals. Dealmaking has resulted in...

Lilly outlines turnaround strategy as CEO calls research cuts “nuts”

You have to give Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter (photo) credit for consistency. In a fast-changing biopharma world in which some of its top rivals are scrambling to create new R&D models, he's sticking with his research team and refusing to budge on investor pressure to hack at its multibillion-dollar R&D budget--despite a string of setbacks in the clinic. "I never thought I'd live to see this, but investors are actually thinking to cut R&D--that's the hot topic of the day," he...

Astellas’ patent sale gins $609M for new round of dealmaking

Japan's Astellas has sold off a patent portfolio on diabetes drugs it obtained in the OSI Pharmaceuticals buyout, raising $609 million that it plans to use for a new round of dealmaking. Royalty Pharma gains valuable patents on DPP-IV inhibitors for Type 2 diabetes and Astellas gets a fresh injection of cash that can be used to snare new technologies for its core diseases: urology, transplant-related medicines, infectious diseases and cancer treatments. "The sale of this large, passive,...

UPDATED: Novartis Venture Fund leads $36M raise for Sorbent

Novartis Venture Fund has stepped in to lead a big Series B expansion for Sunnyvale, CA-based Sorbent Therapeutics, which is engaged in a mid-stage trial of a new treatment designed to flush excess amounts of fluids like sodium and potassium from patients. Novartis joined Sofinnova Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, CMEA Capital and AgeChem in bumping the second round by $36 million, bringing the total to $53 million. Sorbent's lead program is CLP-1001, a "super absorbent" polymer that has...

Third Rock launches new rare-disease biotech with $26M round

Third Rock Ventures is taking $26 million out of its latest fund to bankroll another upstart biotech. In joint announcements rolled out bright and early today the venture group took the wraps off of Lotus Tissue Repair and announced an in-licensing deal for protein replacement technology that will initially target an ultra-rare disease: dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, or DEB, which causes skin blisters, morbidity and early mortality. Their recombinant collagen Type VII research also has...