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June 2012 Volume 8, Issue 6

Volume 8, Issue 6 | June 2012

In this Issue

Contract Services

Raising the third pillar

Synexus strengthens its presence in Poland with acquisition of Osteomed to complement German and U.K. presence

Spain and France join hands

Harlan Labs partners with Ipsen for development of preclinical drug candidates

Partnering for Phase III

Amgen selects PRA as CRO of choice for Phase III biosimilars trials

Hustling on half-lives

Caisson Biotech licenses heparosan-based delivery technology to Novo Nordisk to extend half-lives on drugs

AMRI inks deal with Biota Holdings

AMRI was recently selected by Biota Holdings Ltd. to further develop and manufacture the influenza antiviral CS8958 (laninamivir), a second-generation, long-acting neuraminidase inhibitor

Diagnostics

Childhood cancer collaboration

Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital and Serametrix to develop Dx test for pediatric cancers

The way to man’s heart— through his stomach

LipoScience will translate Cleveland Clinic research into cardiovascular test based on gut flora metabolite

A hankering for HER2

Dako, Genentech pair up for FDA submissions of HER2 companion diagnostics

NGS for cancer Dx

Genomic Health and OncoMed use next-generation sequencing to develop personalized cancer therapeutics

QIAGEN joins POC Dx Initiative

QIAGEN announced May 3 that it has joined the Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POC Dx) Initiative led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada

Stretching its wings

Hologic acquires Gen-Probe for a total enterprise value of approximately $3.7 billion

Global News

Turning toward Turkey

Amgen to acquire Mustafa Nevzat Pharmaceuticals, increase international presence

Australian pharma nabs U.S. shareholders

Biota, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals to merge in $212 million deal

A duo that’s sweet on new biomarkers

Ezose Sciences and Hirosaki University to collaborate in glycomics research to find new cancer biomarkers

A joint research project

Novo Nordisk, Oxford University forge arthritis drug development deal

Evotec licenses inflammatory disease compounds to Chinese pharma

Evotec AG announced the grant of a development and marketing license to Conba Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. of China

Sandoz acquires Fougera Pharmaceuticals

$1.5 billion deal makes Novartis group the top global generic dermatology medicines company

Research & Development

Watson adds action and strength to generics position

Pharma acquires privately held generic drugmaker Actavis Group for $5.4 billion

Out with gout

AstraZeneca acquires Ardea Biosciences for $1.26 billion, gains gout program

Right on TARGET

Merck, Endocyte reach deal to develop cancer drug

Long court battle over stem cell research continues

Three-judge panel hears oral arguments in Sherley case

NCATS finds new tricks for old dogs

NIH launches industry-government collaboration with Big Pharma to repurpose clinical-stage drugs

Accelerated development

AstraZeneca, Axerion team up to take biologic approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease

Sanofi collaborates with MJFF on Parkinson’s disease treatment

Sanofi announced in late April that it has entered into a collaboration with the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) to conduct a clinical trial to assess the safety and tolerability of AVE 8112, a Sanofi phosphodiesterase type 4 (PDE4) inhibitor, in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Commentary

Release of proposed AMP rule creates new issues for life-science industry

The new guidelines will have a wide-reaching financial impact on the life- science industry by creating serious administrative and operational challenges that will have to be addressed relatively quickly.

Making decisions … and making them work

How do we make decisions? Do we analyze Democrats and Republicans with respect to their overall “comparative effectiveness,” or is it their “comparative ineffectiveness” that influences our thinking?

Editor's Focus

Michael J. Fox drives stem cell research efforts for Parkinson’s disease back to the future

He’s not climbing into his DeLorean and punching in a destination far into the past, but actor and Parkinson’s disease advocate Michael J. Fox surprised many recently when he told ABC News reporter Diane Sawyer that stem cell research may not be the future of treatments or a cure for this debilitating disease.

Tools & Technology

Companies create ‘road atlas’ of human biology

BioTime acquires XenneX to map stem cell types

‘Mainlining’ research content to scientists

Thomson Reuters and IDBS integration aims to change biological content delivery

Getting everyone’s heads in the cloud

BT advances cloud services to increase pharmaceutical R&D productivity and optimize clinical trial results

Dolomite joins forces with LioniX

Companies partner on development of microfluidic devices and systems

Ambry Genetics launches Fluidigm-based genomic research services

Ambry Genetics, a global leader in clinical diagnostics and genomic services, announced last month the launch of Fluidigm BioMark HD and Access Array System-based genomic research services

Omics & Systems Biology

New class is in session

GSK teams up with Yale to design a new class of medicines to attack disease-causing proteins

Creating a new oral tradition

Boosted by NIH grant, NYU-UCSF research team will use genomics to find biomarkers to predict oral cancer metastasis in patients

Fresh horizons in drug discovery

Horizon, H3 Biomedicine announce target validation collaboration

Two down, 94 to go

Epizyme and Celgene partner to advance human health through epigenetic-based therapies

BGI and several academic partners to sequence 100 human adenoviruses

BGI announced May 2 that the genomics organization will work with George Mason University (GMU), the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) to sequence 100 human adenoviruses gathered from researchers globally, including ones that cause respiratory, gastrointestinal and ocular diseases