January 10, 2006 – Novartis backed away from acquiring Berna Biotech, which was already the recipient of a bid from Crucell, leading to speculation that Novartis may instead make an offer for the much bigger target of Serono; Becton, Dickinson paid $230 million to acquire GeneOhm Sciences; Iomai set the terms for its IPO; Elan licensed its NanoCrystal drug-delivery technology to EntreMed ; Human Genome Sciences outlicensed the rights to a target antigen to PDL BioPharma; the FDA approved a new drug for psoriasis from Warner Chilcott and LEO Pharma; ZLB Behring won FDA approval of Viviaglobin, a subcutaneous immunoglobulin replacement therapy; and Genentech announced its Q4 earnings, hitting the expected profit and overall revenue numbers, but it was about $5 million shy of consensus figures for sales of Avastin. The Centient Biotech 200™ lost about a quarter of a point, closing at 4073.32, a loss of .01%. More details...
