March 15, 2006 – PharmAthene has taken the reverse-merger route as a means of coming public, buying SIGA Technologies, a $27 million company also in biodefense drugs; OrthoLogic was cut in half after Chrysalin, a treatment for the repair of fractures, failed a Phase III trial; the FDA gave GenVec the go-ahead to continue testing TNFerade in patients with pancreatic cancer; Pharmos will buy Vela Pharma for $29.7 million; Pharmacopeia added a disease target to its collaboration with Neurocrine; Critical Therapeutics will halt a Phase II trial of its anti-inflammatory compound; the ALS Association has allocated funding to a drug discovered by Isis Pharma; and a Phase I trial being conducted by Parexel for TeGenero of Germany has caused drastic side effects in all six patients who received it. The Centient Biotech 200™ gained 17 points to end at 4038.49, a rise of .42%. More details...
