Author: Kevin Grogan

UK biotechnology firm Vernalis is to cut over half its workforce as part of an extensive restructuring brought on by the rejection last year by US regulators of a supplementary filing for the migraine drug Frova.

Pfizer has hit the M&A path once again and is acquiring Encysive Pharmaceuticals for around $195 million, a significant premium on the latter’s share price.

Three days after the firm told PharmaTimes World News that it was looking for ways to make its R&D efforts more efficient, AstraZeneca has confirmed that it is spinning off its gastrointestinal research operations in Sweden.

Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has posted another strong set of fourth-quarter results which show that net income jumped 24% to $570 million, or $0.69 per share, helped by sales of its generic version of Wyeth’s gastrointestinal drug Protonix.

Genentech and majority stakeholder Roche have been boosted by data from a second late-stage trial of Avastin which may help the firm in its bid to get the blockbuster approved as a breast cancer treatment.