Bristol-Myers Squibb Agrees to Purchase Amira Pharmaceuticals

Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to purchase Amira Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biotech company, for $325 million and potential additional milestone payments of $150 million. BMS plans to retain Amira’s scientists, who will continue to work at Amira’s company’s headquarters in San Diego, California.

Pfizer Inc and Icagen Inc have entered into a merger agreement. Pfizer currently owns 11% of Icagen’s shares and will acquire the remaining 8.3 million shares at $6 each. The total value of the transaction is estimated at $56 million.

Novartis reported that its net sales rose to $14.9 billion, an increase of 27%. Recently launched products increased 46% over the previous year’s quarter and contributed $3.8 billion to total net sales for the company.

Johnson & Johnson announced that its second-quarter profits dropped nearly 20% from the same time 1 year ago. The company said that this loss was not unexpected and that its earnings still came in above Wall Street’s expectations. Recall costs and restructuring charges, especially within J&J-owned McNeil Consumer Healthcare, were responsible for the change. Secondquarter earnings were $2.8 billion compared to $3.45 billion a year ago. J&J has also acquired Synthes, a Swiss manufacturer of orthopedic implants, for $21.3 billion.

Adamis Pharmaceuticals has received a patent for its APC-100 compound, which is used in the treatment of early- and late-stage prostate cancer. The company has also received FDA approval to begin phase I/IIa clinical studies of APC-100 in men with castration- resistant prostate cancer. According to the company, APC-100 inhibits the growth of prostate cancer cells, delays the progression of disease, and prevents the recurrence of prostate cancer.

AstraZeneca and PTC Therapeutics will team up in a research collaboration and license agreement for the application of PTC’s proprietary GEMS (gene expression modulation by small molecules) technology. According to the companies, GEMS is a novel technology for the identification of small molecules that modulate posttranscriptional control mechanisms. AstraZeneca will make an undisclosed cash payment up-front for research funding and for the initiation of the first target in the collaboration.

Eli Lilly’s profits fell to $1.2 billion, or $1.07 per share, in the second quarter. This is down from $1.35 billion, or $1.22 per share, at the same time last year. However, the company reports that revenues rose to $6.25 billion, a 9% increase.