OSO3H Merck had won in a patent infringement dispute involving sofosbuvir, an active ingredient in both drugs, after she determined Merck had lied. In December 2016, Merck won a $2.5 billion jury award from Gilead in a separate patent dispute involving the hepatitis C drugs.—MARC REISCH
INSTRUMENTATION
▸ Agilent opens German tech center Agilent Technologies has opened a $58 million customer and technology center in Waldbronn, Germany. The 16,200-m2 facility is expected to host 2,000 visitors a year in 25 lab, test, and training rooms. The Waldbronn site Agilent is adding focuses on high-performance liquid new labs, like this one already chromatography, miin Waldbronn, to crofluidics, and capa new technology illary electrophorecenter. sis.—MARC REISCH
BIOTECHNOLOGY
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▸ Sarepta, BioMarin settle dispute H2N Sarepta will pay BioMarin $35 million to settle a lengthy patent dispute over treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The companies’ legal tangle centered on patents related to antisense oligonucleotides that allow a missing muscular protein to be made in boys with DMD. BioMarin also scores a 5% royalty on U.S. sales of exon-skipping compounds 51, 45, and 53 and an 8% royalty on European sales. The deal helps BioMarin recoup some of the roughly $840 million it paid in 2014 to acquire Prosensa, a Dutch biotech firm whose lead DMD drug, drisapersen, was later rejected by FDA.—LISA JARVIS
NATURAL PRODUCTS
▸ Start-up Enterin raises $12.7 million
C R E D I T: AGI L E NT
Enterin has raised $12.7 million in a series A financing round. The Philadelphia-based biotech firm says it will use the funds to complete a Phase II study of its lead product, ENT-01, as a treatment for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. ENT-01 is a derivative of squalamine, an aminosterol discovered in the tissues of the dogfish shark by Enterin cofounder
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and Georgetown University professor Michael Zasloff. According to Enterin, the compound can slow the progression of Parkinson’s by preventing the accumulation of α-synuclein.—MICHAEL MCCOY
PHARMACEUTICALS
▸ GSK reorganizes U.K. manufacturing GlaxoSmithKline says it will spend more than $160 million to boost the manufacture of respiratory and HIV medicines at its sites in Ware and Barnard Castle, England, and Montrose, Scotland. Separately, the firm says it may sell off its cephalosporin antibiotics business, including manufacturing assets in Barnard Castle and Ulverston, England, and Verona, Italy. GSK will continue to make other antibiotics such as Augmentin and conduct research on new antibiotics. In another move, the firm plans to sell off its Horlicks drink brand in the U.K. and close its Horlicks production site in Slough, England. GSK is also exploring the sale of other food brands.—ALEX SCOTT
Business Roundup
such as gene duplication and translocation.
▸ DSM has picked the Chinese firm Nanjing Cosmos Chemical to produce two new skin care active ingredients. Cosmos’s plant in Maanshan, China, will make DSM’s ultraviolet filters Parsol Max and Parsol Shield, both used in the formulation of skin care creams and sunscreens.
▸ Alcami will relocate its headquarters from Wilmington to Durham, both in North Carolina. The drug custom development and manufacturing firm says the move will allow it to access clients and talent in Research Triangle Park.
▸ Amgen and Array BioPharma are joining to develop small molecules for autoimmune disorders discovered through Array’s chemistry and early lead-development platforms. Array will provide medicinal chemistry; Amgen is responsible for clinical development and commercialization.
▸ Shire has acquired worldwide rights to a Novimmune bispecific antibody in preclinical development for the treatment of hemophilia A. Shire says the compound is the sort it expects to develop in a rare-disease research center that’s set to open in Cambridge, Mass., in 2019.
▸ PeptiDream and Kleo Pharmaceuticals will jointly develop small-molecule immuno-oncology therapies. Tokyo-based PeptiDream will use its discovery platform to identify macrocyclic/ constrained peptides against oncology targets selected by Kleo.
▸ Teijin will expand capacity for its Twaron p-aramid fiber at its plant in Emmen, the Netherlands. To be completed early in 2019, the project will involve new, more automated spinning technology, Teijin says.
▸ Evonik Industries has launched a crowdsourcing competition for students aimed at finding new materials for the personal care market. Last year, the German firm held a similar contest seeking friction-reduction techniques for its lubricant additives business. ▸ BASF will join with Israeli genetics firm Kaiima Bio-Agritech in an effort to discover herbicide resistance traits for crops. The project will use Kaiima’s non-GMO breeding tool, which relies on a plant’s own DNA to induce genomic modifications
JULY 24, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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