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Biogen Idec restates its plan to purchase all outstanding shares of Facet Biotech

Biogen Idec Inc. today reiterated its proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Facet Biotech Corporation for $14.50 per share in cash.

9 Sep 2009

GENova Biotherapeutics files patent for Prostaganin anti-cancer drug

GENova Biotherapeutics, Inc., ("GENova"), is pleased to announce that it has filed a patent for a novel peptide that disrupts the advance of prostate cancer and thus has blockbuster potential as a new anti-cancer drug.

9 Sep 2009

Biogen Idec offers to completely acquire Facet

Biogen Idec’s interest in acquiring Facet was first conveyed on August 17, 2009 by Mr. Mullen to Faheem Hasnain, President and Chief Executive Officer of Facet.

5 Sep 2009

Biogen Idec's MS franchise to present at the 25th Congress of ECTRIMS

Biogen Idec today announced more than 70 platform and poster presentations from the company’s multiple sclerosis (MS) franchise being presented during the 25th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Düsseldorf, Germany.

3 Sep 2009

Aaron Whiteman to be the new CEO of GENova Biotherapeutics

GENova Biotherapeutics, Inc., ("GENova") - (OTCBB: GVBP.OB), a biotechnology company that identifies, acquires, and develops novel drug targets that disrupt the advance of life-threatening diseases, today named Aaron Whiteman as its Chief Executive Officer.

19 Aug 2009

Massachusetts to restore immigrant health care, Colorado Medicaid list grows, Obama in North Carolina

Massachusetts lawmakers will vote today to provide $40 million to restore health care coverage for legal immigrants. In Colorado, a 14 percent spike in Medicaid capped a record year for enrollment.

30 Jul 2009

Costly biologics drugs prompt exclusivity debate

"A bitter Congressional fight over the cost of superexpensive biotechnology drugs has come down to a single, hotly debated number: How many years should makers of those drugs be exempt from generic competition?" The New York Times reports.

22 Jul 2009

Genentech and Biogen Idec submit applications to FDA for Rituxan in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Genentech, Inc. and Biogen Idec today announced that the companies submitted two supplemental Biologics License Applications (sBLAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Rituxan (rituximab) plus standard chemotherapy for people with previously untreated or treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

20 May 2009

Rituximab linked to viral brain infection

The 57-year-old lawyer in New York had handily completed the New York Times' Saturday crossword puzzle - the hardest of the week - for years. But one Saturday morning, suddenly he couldn't retrieve the words to fill in the squares.

18 May 2009

FDA warns 14 pharmaceutical companies about short internet ads lacking risk information

FDA has warned 14 major pharmaceutical firms about brief Internet advertisements that could have misled patients because they did not include information about health risks related to the drugs, according to letters posted to the agency's Web site Friday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

6 Apr 2009

Study of Rituxan (rituximab) in lupus nephritis misses primary endpoint

Genentech, Inc. and Biogen Idec has announced that a Phase III study of Rituxan (rituximab) plus mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and corticosteroids in patients with lupus nephritis did not meet its primary endpoint of significantly reducing disease activity at 52 weeks.

11 Mar 2009

Stromedix awarded U.S. patent for antibody-based therapeutics

Stromedix, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on innovative therapies for fibrosis and fibrotic organ failure, announced today that the U.S. Patent Office has granted patent number US 7,465,449, which broadly covers monoclonal antibodies to integrin ávâ6, including compositions related to its lead product, STX-100.

23 Jan 2009

Rituxan in combination with chemo improves survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Genentech, Inc. and Biogen Idec have announced that two global Phase III studies in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), CLL8 and REACH, showed Rituxan (rituximab) plus chemotherapy significantly increased the time patients lived without their disease advancing, as defined by the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS), when compared to chemotherapy alone.

8 Dec 2008

FDA accepts Zevalin supplemental biologics license application

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing and review, and has granted priority review status for, the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for use of Zevalin ([90Y]-ibritumomab tiuxetan) as consolidation therapy for patients with follicular B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who achieve a response to first-line therapy. Priority review is granted by the FDA for a treatment that addresses a significant unmet medical need.

1 Dec 2008

FDA approves Tysabri to treat Crohn's disease

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Tysabri (natalizumab) for the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease in patients with evidence of inflammation who have had an inadequate response to, or are unable to tolerate, conventional Crohn's disease therapies.

14 Jan 2008

Renewed search for lupus treatments and cure

For the first time in decades, a significant number of clinical trials are being conducted to seek a treatment, perhaps even a cure, for lupus, a chronic and potentially fatal autoimmune disease that affects more than 1.5 million Americans -- 10,000 in Los Angeles County alone.

4 Oct 2007

Rituximab reduces disease activity in multiple sclerosis

A new drug under investigation shows a reduction in disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS), according to two studies that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston. The drug reduced disease activity as indicated by MRI scans.

2 May 2007

Lawmakers have proposed 'witch's brew' of biotech bills

Lawmakers in recent months "have stirred up a witch's brew of initiatives that is cause for some concern -- not only for the biotech industry, but for all Americans," James Mullen, president and CEO of Biogen and chair of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

1 May 2007

New discoveries about stem cells in leukemia, breast and colon cancer

Recent discoveries about the role of stem cells in cancer have altered the landscape of cancer research. With each new study, scientists are learning more about cancer-initiating properties of stem cells at organ sites and throughout the body.

19 Apr 2007