Top 5 News Stories 8/20 – 8/24

1) EMD Millipore to buy cell culture media company Mass High Tech – 08/22/2012

EMD Millpore of Billerica will acquire Biochrom AG located in Berlin, Germany for an undisclosed value in a transaction expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2012. Biochrom AG manufactures and markets cell culture media products. Under controlled conditions, these products allow for the growth and cultivation of cells in laboratories. Link

 2) Inspiration Bio signs deal worth up to $215M Mass High Tech – 08/23/2012

Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals Inc. has granted commercial rights to its hemophilia drug candidates to Ipsen in a deal worth up to $215 million. The Cambridge company, which moved to Massachusetts from California in late 2011, granted Ipsen rights to commercialize 1B1001 and OBI-1 in Europe, Russia, China, Australia and other nations. Link

3) Ocular begins Phase 2 trial of glaucoma treatment Mass High Tech – 08/21/2012

Ocular Therapeutix in Bedford will conduct a Phase 2 trial of a so-called punctum plug, which can be inserted near the eye, to deliver a sustained release dose of an existing drug, travoprost, to treat ocular hypertension (abnormal pressure in the eye) and glaucoma. Link

4) Alnylam receives orphan drug designation from FDA for FAP treatment Equities.com – 08/24/2012

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an RNAi therapeutics company, has received Orphan Drug Designation from FDA to ALN-TTR02 as a therapeutic for the treatment of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy, or FAP, one of the predominant clinical manifestations of transthyretin, or TTR-mediated amyloidosis, or ATTR. Link

5) Ironwood prepares drug for irritable bowel syndrome The Boston Globe – 08/19/2012

Local labs are working to develop treatments for neurological disorders, multiple forms of cancer, and dozens of rare genetic diseases. But the next potential blockbuster drug to emerge from the Boston area may target a less fearsome condition that nonetheless afflicts 30 million to 40 million Americans: irritable bowel syndrome. Link