The Day In Review: Novartis Corporation Devours Brit Biotech

June 7, 2006 – Novartis struck a deal to buy British antibody biotech NeuTec for $569 million; Abbott Labs received European approval for Humira to treat arthritic inflammation of the spine; a periodontitis drug candidate from CombinatoRx failed an inflammation test; Kos completed randomization in Phase III trials of Icatiban; Discovery Labs withdrew its request for European approval of Surfaxin; Vical received another $2.6 million from the NIH to continue developing its DNA-based bird-flu vaccine; Peregrine said that bavituximab was effective as a monotherapy against hepatitis C; European regulators will consider Xyotax, a cancer drug from Cell Therapeutics, on the basis of non-inferiority; Dendreon touted a positive article in the journal Cancer about Provenge; Schering extended the indication in Europe for Betaferon to include early-stage multiple sclerosis; GlaxoSmithKline partnered with Galapagos to develop osteoarthritis drugs; and Martek jumped higher after reporting an 83% increase in second quarter profit. The Centient Biotech 200™ ended 3 points lower at 3634.57, a drop of .07%. More details...