GlaxoSmithKline has chosen two contract-research organizations to handle its future clinical drug development, including PPD of Wilmington and Parexel International, based in Massachusetts.
The news is a blow to other CROs in the Triangle, which is a hub for the drug-research industry, although it's unclear which companies were competing to work with GSK.
GSK spokeswoman Melinda Stubbee declined to name other companies that submitted bids. "It was an extremely competitive process," she added.
GlaxoSmithKline has hired a Goldman Sachs investment banker as its new chief financial officer.
Simon Dingemans, 47, leads Goldman’s European mergers business and has more than 25 years of investment banking experience, London-based GSK said in a statement today. He will become CFO-designate Jan. 4 and replace Julian Heslop, 57, as chief financial officer when he retires at the end of March, the company said.
The move comes as CEO Andrew Witty is seeking new acquisitions to replace sales that are being eroded by generic competition. GSK has done 24 acquisitions and joint ventures since Witty became CEO in May 2008, according to Bloomberg data.
Icagen will make a new move this month to avoid having its shares delisted from the Nasdaq.
The Durham company developing new treatments for pain and epilepsy will hold a one-for-eight reverse stock split on Sept 21. The split will take effect at the start of trading on Sept. 22, the company announced Friday.
Investors will essentially get one new share for every eight they now own. Such a move will reduce the number of outstanding shares but increase the per-share price to help meet the Nasdaq's minimum listing requirements.
French drug giant Sanofi-Aventis publicly launched its $18.5 billion cash bid for American biotech firm Genzyme Corp. today, the Associated Press reports.
It's a move that follows months of rumored interest and failed attempts to bring Genzyme's management to the table.
Under terms of the proposed acquisition, Genzyme shareholders would receive $69 per share, representing a 38 percent premium over Genzyme's closing stock price of $49.86 on July 1. That's the day before speculation began to swirl that Sanofi was looking to buy an American drugmaker, possibly Genzyme, in a bid to help replace revenue being lost to worsening generic competition.
Sanofi-Aventis is taking the bid public after what it calls “several unsuccessful attempts” to engage Genzyme's management in talks. While it prefers to work with the board instead of taking the offer directly to shareholders, CEO Christopher A. Viehbacher said on a conference call this morning that “we are also prepared to consider all alternatives to complete this transaction.”
Private equity firm Avista Capital Partners and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan have agreed to acquire INC Research, a Raleigh company that assists drug makers with clinical trials.
Terms of the deal weren't included in a release announcing the acquisition.
Bloomberg News, quoting an unnamed person with direct knowledge of the deal, is reporting that the two investors are paying about $600 million for INC.
They are buying the privately-held INC from an investor group led by Crosspoint Venture Partners and Adams Street Partners.
“We are enthusiastic to partner with James Ogle, CEO of INC Research, and his talented management team, who have a strong track record of success,” said Neil Petroff, Teachers’ Executive Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer for the pension fund.
“Under Mr. Ogle’s leadership, we are confident INC Research will continue to capitalize on favorable trends in the clinical development outsourcing market and utilize its global reach to enhance its market share.”
Cornerstone Therapeutics will stop making and distributing two older drugs at the end of the year, as the Cary company focuses on its newer, faster-growing treatments for respiratory diseases.
The company announced that it will stop making AlleRx, an allergy treatment, and HyoMax, which treats stomach cramps and other problems.
With sales slowing for some of its older products, Cornerstone has been buying new ones to bolster revenue.
GlaxoSmithKline researchers have developed an experimental antibiotic that, if successful during additional clinical testing, could help fight drug-resistant infections in hospitals, Bloomberg News reports.
The compound, called GSK-299423, targets an enzyme to stop bacteria from replicating. The drug is years away from being commercialized, but is unusual because few pharmaceutical companies are producing such antibiotics, Bloomberg reports.
GSK is a British drug maker with its North American headquarters in the Triangle. The company is eager to find promising new products to offset slower sales and generic competition.
Inspire Pharmaceuticals reported that revenue rose 18 percent in the second quarter.
The company, which sells drugs to treat eye ailments, announced this morning that revenue for the three months ended June 30 was $27.3 million.
Inspire's net loss for the period was $8.8 million, a slight improvement from the loss of $9.5 a year earlier.
The results were in line with Wall Street analysts' projections. As with other drug companies in the Triangle, Inspire is losing money as it tests new, experimental treatments, including one for cystic fibrosis.
Icagen, a Durham drug-development company whose slumping shares risk being delisted from the Nasdaq, won a temporary reprieve from the stock market.
The company now has until Nov. 8 to get the closing price of its stock above $1 for 10 consecutive trading days, Icagen reported in a regulatory filing this morning.
Icagen's shares, which began trading publicly in 2005, have fallen sharply as investors worry about the company's financial health and whether it will be able to develop a successful drug. Icagen's researchers are testing compounds to treat pain, epilepsy and other diseases.
Its stock rose 2 cents this afternoon to 32 cents.
In June, shareholders approved Icagen's planned one-for-eight reverse stock split. Such a move would reduce the number of outstanding shares and increase the per-share price to help meet the Nasdaq's listing requirements.
Chief financial officer Richard Katz declined to comment beyond this morning's regulatory filing.
Pozen reported stronger second-quarter sales and profit, boosted by its drugs to treat headaches and arthritis.
The Chapel Hill company received a $20 million payment from larger partner AstraZeneca after its Vimovo arthritis drug received regulatory approval on April 30. That payment, plus royalties from sales of its migraine drug Treximet, boosted quarterly results.
