News roundup from Datamonitor
pharmafile | September 26, 2007 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
Alnylam and Merck end collaboration
Biopharmaceutical company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Merck & Co. have mutually agreed to terminate their July 2006 amended and restated agreement.
As a result, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Alnylam has rescinded all grants of its intellectual property related to current and future Merck development programmes, including the partnership's former co-development programmes.
John Maraganore, president and CEO of Alnylam said: "It is fundamentally in our best interests to terminate our Merck collaboration. We wish our colleagues at Merck the best of luck in their efforts."
Related links:
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc: LSA company profile
Merck Group: LSA company profile
Clinical Data launches pain research services
Global biotechnology company Clinical Data has launched its pain research genotyping service by its Cogenics Division.
Cogenics developed the proprietary genotyping service called the Pain Research Panel, which enables the investigation of key target genes involved in pain as well as those that mediate the therapeutic effects of pharmacological agents used to treat pain, inflammation, and mood conditions.
The panel is based on a custom Affymetrix microarray made available through an agreement with Algynomics Inc and contains more than 3,000 SNPs representing 350 genes implicated in pain perception, inflammation, and mood.
William Maixner, president of Algynomics, said: "We have designed the Pain Research Panel for use in research studies seeking to identify the genetic contribution to pain susceptibility and to examine positive and adverse responses to therapeutic regimens for acute and chronic pain."
Related links
Clinical Data Inc: LSA company profile
Central Nervous System – Pain Drug Pipeline Report
Pipeline Insight: Breakthrough Pain – Fast-acting players will capture majority market share
The Pain Market Outlook to 2011
Intellect Neurosciences gets patent validation for Alzheimer's vaccine
Biopharmaceutical company Intellect Neurosciences has reported that European Patent No. 1237930 covering chimeric peptide vaccines has been validated in 19 European countries.
The nine-month opposition period for the patent expired on August 8, 2007. The patent also has been granted in several other countries outside of Europe. Intellect Neurosciences is the exclusive assignee of the patent, which relates to the company's Recall-Vax technology.
Dr Daniel Chain, chairman and CEO, said: "The validation of patent in Europe strengthens our competitive advantage in a therapeutic area that is a front runner in the attack against Alzheimer's disease. We are excited about this promising technology that possesses a unique combination of safety features, which potentially enables it to be used to treat patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease and also to prevent or delay the onset of this devastating disease."
Related links:
Pipeline and Commercial Insight: Alzheimers Disease – Beta treatments on the horizon
Alexza to initiate pivotal trial for schizophrenia drug
Alexza Pharmaceuticals expects to begin the first of two phase III trials for Staccato loxapine late in the first quarter of 2008. It is initially being developed for the treatment of acute agitation in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
The two phase III trials are anticipated to each enrol approximately 300 patients. AZ-004 is being developed through Symphony Allegro, a product development collaboration formed between Alexza and Symphony Capital.
Thomas King, president and CEO said: "Our AZ-004 development programme continues to track 6 to 12 months ahead of our original schedule, which we outlined last September as we initiated our phase IIa clinical trial. We believe that the strength of the clinical data from our phase IIa clinical trial, coupled with the speed with which that trial enrolled, has put us in position to initiate our phase III trials significantly ahead of our original plans. AZ-004 is a product candidate we believe could fill an important unmet need in the acute treatment of agitation in schizophrenic and bipolar patients."
Related links
Alexza Pharmaceuticals: LSA company profile
Central Nervous System – Schizophrenia Drug Pipeline Report
Pipeline Insight: Schizophrenia
Bristol-Myers takes psoriasis drug into phase II
As part of a collaborative research programme with Pharmacopeia, Bristol-Myers Squibb has initiated a phase II clinical trial with a p38 kinase inhibitor being evaluated for the oral treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis.
The multi-centered randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, will examine the safety and efficacy of BMS 582949 at three different doses. Approximately 100 patients are expected to be enrolled in the study.
Les Browne, president and CEO said: "It is generally accepted that p38 kinase inhibitors could be effective in a range of inflammatory diseases including psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Psoriasis is an important indication to evaluate in order to rapidly achieve proof of concept for this compound. We are very pleased to see BMS-582949 advance and complement the other clinical development programs with which we are associated, especially our own phase II DARA programme."
Bristol-Myers Squibb is also currently conducting a phase I trial in Canada with a second p38 kinase inhibitor resulting from the collaborative research programme.
Under the terms of the companies' ongoing collaboration, Pharmacopeia will receive milestone payments for the p38 compounds in the program to the extent the programme progresses through clinical development, and royalty payments for any product from the programme that reaches the marketplace. Bristol-Myers Squibb is solely responsible for further development and commercialisation of the therapeutic candidate.
Related links
Bristol-Myers Squibb company: LSA company profile
Stakeholder Insight: Psoriasis – Biologics Impact Treatment Regimes Across the Globe
Commercial and Pipeline Insight: Psoriasis – Anti-TNF's lead another indication
