February 28, 2006 – Bristol-Myers Squibb received FDA approval for Ensam, a transdermal patch for severe depression; the FDA also gave its OK to Zegerid, a capsule formulation of a proton pump inhibitor from Santarus; Novavax inked a deal to develop surge capacity for production of an avian flu vaccine; NPS Pharma reported positive results from a Phase IIa trial of its Crohn’s disease therapy; Luminex signed a non-exclusive license with MIT that allows the company to develop microRNA assays; Pharmion will file for European approval of satraplatin as a therapy for prostate cancer; ArQule began toxicology studies on a second cancer compound developed with Roche; Memory Pharma gave Roche worldwide rights to the IP covering nicotinic alpha-7 receptor compounds; QLT will appeal the court decision forbidding sale of Eligard for patent reasons; and PDI announced that AstraZeneca has ended its use of a PDI-sourced sales force. The Centient Biotech 200™ lost 56 points, closing at 4031.96, a drop of 1.38%. For the week, the index is still holding on to a 48 point net gain. More details...
