March 8 -- Alexza priced its IPO, placing 5.5 million shares at $8 each, slightly below the range of $10 to $12; Tysabri, the multiple sclerosis drug from Biogen Idec and Elan, won the unanimous endorsement of the FDA advisory committee; Alpharma agreed to sell its generic drug division, ParMed Pharma, to Cardinal Health for $40.1 million; Gilead Sciences said the FDA replaced accelerated approval status with the normal procedure for two of its HIV/AIDS drugs; Nucryst Pharma received a new patent for its nanocrystalline silver as an acne treatment; CoTherix began a Phase III trial of Ventavis for pulmonary arterial hypertension, using sildenafil as an adjunct; Neurocrine Biosciences reported that its altered peptide ligand (APL) technology failed a Phase II trial as a multiple sclerosis treatment; Santarus released positive data from a trial of Zegerid Powder for Oral Suspension for GERD; and Genmab released positive results from a Phase I/II trial of HuMax-CD20 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The Centient Biotech 200™ finished the day 47 points higher at 4005.14, a rise of 1.18%, far outstripping the general market. More details...
