Business & Industry News Channel
Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany, has submitted Visanne® for the treatment of endometriosis for registration to all Member States of the European Community. The Netherlands will serve as the Reference Member State for the Decentralized Procedure to receive European-wide Marketing Authorization. 
Schering-Plough Corp., (NYSE: SGP), a leading provider of fertility treatments, announced today that the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has validated (accepted for review) its Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for corifollitropin alfa, the company's experimental, sustained follicle stimulant (SFS). This application will follow the Centralized Procedure.
Novartis has strengthened its vaccines pipeline through an exclusive agreement to license AlphaVax' investigational Cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine program. This CMV agreement adds to Novartis' promising early stage pipeline of novel vaccines, which focuses on significant unmet needs for the prevention of fatal diseases such as meningococcal infections and other hospital and community acquired infections. 
Sanofi-aventis announced today the signature of a global licensing and collaboration agreement with Novozymes for the development and marketing of a potential new antibiotic. The drug candidate is an antimicrobial peptide named plectasin NZ2114 that targets the treatment of severe infections, such as pneumonia and septicaemia, caused by bacteria like Staphylococcus and Streptococcus.
Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (TSE: 4568), and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency has issued a positive opinion recommending approval of prasugrel for the prevention of atherothrombotic events in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Novo Nordisk and VLST Corporation, a Seattle-based biotechnology company focused on the development of therapeutics for autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, today announced that the companies have entered into an exclusive, worldwide collaboration agreement to develop therapeutic targets utilising VLST's technology platform in the fields of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.
AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb have announced expansion of their worldwide collaboration to include the development and commercialisation of dapagliflozin in Japan. Dapagliflozin, one of two investigational drugs under joint development by the companies, is currently being studied in Phase III clinical trials in several countries, including the U.S., to assess its efficacy and safety as a once-daily treatment for type 2 diabetes.