Roche and Memory Pharmaceuticals have signed a definitive merger agreement under which Roche will acquire Memory Pharmaceuticals for $50 million in cash. Memory develops drug candidates for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. The company's nicotinic alpha-7 agonist drug candidates in these disease areas—currently being developed in partnership with Roche—include: R3487/MEM 3454, in Phase II trials for Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia; and R4996/MEM 63908, in Phase I for Alzheimer's disease.
   
"Acquiring Memory Pharmaceuticals will enable Roche to secure the future development of its promising nicotinic alpha-7 agonists," said William Burns, chief executive officer, Division Roche Pharmaceuticals. "The innovative work carried out by the scientists at Memory Pharmaceuticals will be fully integrated into Roche's R&D portfolio with the aim of providing new hope for patients and caregivers affected by devastating diseases such as Alzheimer's."
   
Jonathan Fleming, chairman of the board of directors of Memory Pharmaceuticals said, "Since founding Memory Pharmaceuticals in 1998, we have focused on developing medicines that could make a real difference to the lives of CNS patients. I am proud of the progress our dedicated team has made and I am confident that Roche's capabilities and experience in the CNS field will enable our research to realize its full potential."

Abraxis BioScience, Inc. has entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca UK Ltd., under which Abraxis would re-acquire the exclusive rights to market Abraxane (paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension) in the U.S. The agreement is subject to approval by the board of directors of Abraxis.
   
“We believe the time has come to further build our commercialization platform for Abraxane in the U.S.,” said Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Abraxis BioScience. “We have gained much in our collaboration with AstraZeneca and they have done a commendable job in building market share. At the same time as building our sales organization, we will be advancing the development of our pipeline of new nab™ product candidates, and will expand our program of studies to support new indications for Abraxane,” continued Dr. Soon-Shiong.
   
Abraxis has developed a clinical program in an effort to gain new indications for Abraxane as well as other product candidates using the nab technology platform. This program includes eight Phase III trials, for which five protocols have been reviewed by the FDA for study design, 65 investigator-initiated Phase II trials and 16 Phase I studies. Late stage trials for abraxane include: 1st line lung cancer, 1st line melanoma, 1st and 2nd line pancreatic cancer, 1st line ovarian cancer, and 1st line gastric.

DSM Biologics, a business unit of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, and Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V., have signed a commercial license agreement with Hungary-based Gedeon Richter Plc. Under the agreement, Gedeon Richter will be allowed to develop and produce certain biopharmaceuticals using the PER.C6 platform.
    
Crucell's PER.C6 technology platform has been developed for the large-scale manufacture of biopharmaceutical products such as recombinant proteins including monoclonal antibodies. DSM's XD technology has been developed as a system to drive yield improvements in mammalian systems.
   
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

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