Drug Companies Update August 2007
Mergers, acquisitions & Joint Ventures
- Acuity Pharmaceuticals, Froptix Corporation and Exegenics have merged to form Opko Health.
- Biopharmaceutical company Advanced Magnetics has changed its name to AMAG Pharmaceuticals.
- Cell Therapeuctics has acquired Systems Medicine, which is to remain a wholly-owned subsidiary
- Biotherapeutic company Genentech has acquired Tanox.
- Hemosol has changed its name to Hemosol BioPharma.
- Noven has acquired JDS Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on the development of psychiatry and womans health products.
- Urological focused company, Urigen has merged with Valentis.
- Verenium is a company focused on the development of speciality enzymes and biofuels, formed through the merger of Diversa and Celunol.
New Companies
- AB Science is a French company developing an anticancer drug.
- Akela Pharma focuses on the development of inhalation treatments for pain and CNS disorders.
- Privately-owned Alacrity Biosciences is focused on the development of treatments for ocular surface diseases, retinal diseases and glaucoma.
- Apoteknos Derma is engaged in the development of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of autoimmune skin diseases and cosmetics.
- Privately-owned company, Bioberica, focuses on joint and digestive health.
- Israeli company, BioCancell Therapeutics is engaged in the development of targeted cancer therapeutics.
- Privately-owned Biomas develops immunomodulating compounds.
- Amercian-based BrainCells uses its proprietary neurogenic platform technology to develop compounds involved in neurogenisis.
- Cobalis is focused on the development of products for the treatment of allergies, migraine headache, atopic asthma and dematitis.
- American-based Colucid Pharmaceuticals is a CNS-focused company.
- Conaris Research Institute investigates anti-inflammatory drugs with a specific focus on chronic intestinal disorders.
- Concordia Pharmaceuticals is developing compounds affecting the Ras pathway for the treatment of cancer.
- Cook Medical produces interventional devices for use in medicine.
- Danish company, DanDrit Biotech is engaged in the development of biological products for the treatment of cancer.
- Privately-owned Dios Therapeutics is focused on developing a non-immunosupressive therapeutic antibody for the treatment of multiple autoimmune indications.
- EmphyCorp is focused on the development of products for pulmonary disease.
- Etubics Corporation is engaged in the development of products for propylactic and therapeutic use.
- FK Biotechnologia is engaged in the development of vaccines and antibodies for the treatment of cancer.
- Fluofarma is focused on biological and chemical molecules as cancer and CNS therapeutics.
- GalPharma focuses on the research and development of a stable recombinant form of galectin -9 and other carbohydrate binding proteins for clinical applications.
- Galmed Medical Research develops proprietary drugs for the treatment of cholesterol and liver diseases.
- The GI company is focused on developing and commercializing therapeutics for gastrointestinal indications.
- HAL Allergy is engaged in the development and production of allergen extracts for use in allergy diagnosis and treatment.
- Biotechnology company Immune Targeting Systems develops vaccines for mutating viruses.
- ImmunoMod develops and commercializes pharmaceuticals for the treatment, prevention and cure of diabetes and related autoimmune disorders.
- Ion Channel Innovations is developing naked DNA gene therapies for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and overactive bladder.
- Medigreen Biotechnology is focused on developing and exploiting Chinese herbal medicines.
- Modern Biosciences is a drug development company that in-licenses late-stage discovery projects from academia and spin-out companies.
- Movetis NV is a Belgian biopharmaceutical company, developing compounds for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders
- Mueller Medical is engaged in developing human and vetinary products for over-the-counter and prescription distribution.
- Nile Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative products for cardiovascular and metabolic disease.
- Nobelpharma is engaged in the development of orphan drugs, off-label use pharmaceuticals and paediatric products.
- Nuon Therapeutics develops novel uses for already marketed drugs for inflammatory and neurological indications.
- Drug-delivery company, Oralance Pharma is focused on the development of new oral drug delivery systems.
- Dutch company, Pantarhei Biosciences, specialises in the development of existing compounds for innovative uses in gender-related diseases.
- Privately-owned Parion Sciences focuses on treatments for pulmonary diseases, including cystic fibrosis.
- PepTcell is engaged in developing a new class of vaccines against highly-mutagenis viruses, such as influenza and HIV.
- PharmaEssentia uses its proprietry technology to improve the pharmacokinetic and efficacy profiles of therapeutic proteins.
- PharmaIN develops affinity-based drug delivery solutions using its 'protected graft co-polymer' and 'PharmaIN reversable binding' technologies.
- Phyton Biotech uses scalable plant cell fermentation technology for the production of small pharmaceutical products.
- PolarisRx is focused on the late stage development of pharmaceuticals for unmet needs in Japan.
- Protalix Biotherapeutics develops and commercializes recombinant therapeutic proteins expresssed through its proprietary plant cell-based expression system.
- Proteologics is focused on the discovery of inhibitors of ubiquitin E3 ligases and their interacting proteins for the treatment of cancer and viral infections.
- SelectX is applying genetic chemistry towards small-molecule drug discovery, with a focus on antimicrobials.
- Sun Pharma Advanced Research Centre is a corporate development focused on developing new chemical entities and drug delivery services.
- Symphony Icon is focused on the development of treatments for gastrointestinal and neurological disorders.
- Synergene Biotechnologies provides molecular diagnostic services and custom-based research for genetic diseases and genetic identification.
- SynerGene Therapeutics is investigating gene therapy approaches for the treatment of cancer.
- Systems Medicine is using predictive cellular pharmacogenomics to develop patient-selective oncology products.
- Tioga Pharmaceuticals is a private pharmaceutical company, spun out from Merck KGaA, focusing on the development of treatments for gastrointestinal disorders.
- Tobira Therapeutics is focused on the development of anti-infective drugs for unmet medical needs.
- Vaccinoma is developing therapeutic cancer vaccines for melanoma and breast cancer.
- Israeli-company Vaxil BioTherapeutics is engaged in the development of therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of tumour metastasis.
- Velacor Therapeutics develops and commercializes novel treatments for prostate cancer.
- ViroChem Pharma is focused on developing therapies for hepatitis-C virus and HIV infection
- Zydus Cadila is developing NMEs for metabolic and inflammatory diseases, new drug delivery platforms and new biologicals.
