The news summaries appearing in BIO SmartBrief are based on original information from news organizations and are produced by SmartBrief, Inc., an independent e-mail newsletter publisher. The information is not compiled or summarized by BIO. Questions and comments should be directed to SmartBrief at bio@smartbrief.com.

Today's Top Story

• Xenon licenses pain drug to Teva in deal potentially worth $376M
  Xenon Pharmaceuticals granted Teva Pharmaceutical Industries global rights to develop and sell its experimental pain drug XEN402, which is designed to inhibit the Nav1.7 and Nav1.8 sodium channels in sensory nerves. Xenon will get $41 million upfront plus as much as $335 million in milestone fees. "Teva is building a focused pipeline of novel medicines in select areas of medical need. XEN402 fits this strategy," Teva President and CEO Jeremy M. Levin said. Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (12/11)     

• Teva will narrow its portfolio: Teva Pharmaceutical announced plans to halt five research programs and refocus drug development efforts on diseases of the respiratory and central nervous systems. Bloomberg (12/12)     

Amarin to Launch Vascepa Alone with $100M Debt Financing

In a conference call last week, Amarin Corp. plc CEO Joe Zakrzewski insisted that it would be "a mistake" to assume that the company's decision to launch Vascepa (icosapent ethyl) on its own through the use of a $100 million debt instrument meant that it had abandoned its search for a partner. Find out the details.

Health Care & Policy

• AstraZeneca, Isis unite to develop antisense cancer drugs
  Isis Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca agreed to jointly discover and develop antisense treatments against five cancer targets. The agreement also covers rights to develop and market Isis' experimental drug ISIS-STAT3Rx, which is in Phase I development for patients with advanced lymphomas. The deal entitles Isis to $31 million upfront and near-term fees, plus potential licensing and milestone payments and sales royalties. Reuters (12/11), Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (12/11)     

• GSK partners with cancer center to develop muscular dystrophy drugs
  The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and GlaxoSmithKline agreed to collaborate in the development of a small-molecule drug against facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. GSK scientists will work together with a group of Hutchinson researchers led by Stephen Tapscott, who has been studying the genetics of the illness. The cancer center will receive an upfront fee and research funding plus possible milestone fees and royalties. Xconomy/Seattle (12/10)     

• NIH announces Big Data, biomedical research initiatives
  The NIH announced new initiatives and grants intended to boost biomedical research and improve data handling and sharing. Among the initiatives are Big Data to Knowledge to develop policies and software for sharing and analyzing data, InfrastructurePLUS to modernize the NIH's computer network and support high-performance computing and storage, Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity to give mentoring and financial support for undergraduates, and the National Research Mentoring Network to bring mentors together with students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty. GenomeWeb Daily News (free registration) (12/10)     

• Prize4Life and Mass. General set up ALS database
  Prize4Life, Massachusetts General Hospital's Neurological Clinical Research Institute, the ALS Therapy Alliance and the Northeast ALS Consortium are partnering to create the Pooled Resource Open-Access ALS Clinical Trials database focused on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Sanofi, Novartis, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals provided support as well. The database will be open to researchers worldwide and will pool data from publicly and privately funded clinical trials for the world's. PharmaTimes (U.K.) (12/6)     

• Disease-causing mutations are very common, study finds
  The 179 healthy people from the United States, Japan, China and Nigeria who had their genomes analyzed as part of the 1,000 Genomes project had a surprisingly high number of mutations associated with disease, researchers report in the American Journal of Human Genetics. "The critical take-home medicine here ... is that as we enter the age of genomic medicine, simply having a mutation in a disease gene does not mean you have the disease or will get the disease," geneticist Robert Green of Harvard said. National Public Radio/Shots blog (12/6)     

Company & Financial News

• Funding round brings in $50M for genetic testing company
  23andMe, a genetic testing provider in Mountain View, Calif., secured more than $50 million in a Series D funding round from new and existing investors. The firm will use the proceeds for expansion. GenomeWeb Daily News (free registration) (12/11)     

• Galera lands $11M in venture capital funding
  Galera Therapeutics, which specializes in drugs that target oxygen metabolic pathways as possible treatments for diseases such as cancer and fibrosis, obtained $11 million in a Series A funding round led by New Enterprise Associates and Novartis Venture Fund. The biotech firm will use the money to fund clinical development of its small molecule drugs as treatments for chemoradiation-induced mucositis. American City Business Journals/Philadelphia (12/11)     

Food & Agriculture

• DuPont licenses Two Blades' sequencing technology
  The Two Blades Foundation granted DuPont Pioneer rights to its DNA binding protein-based TAL Code technology for commercial crop applications. In exchange, the foundation will get access to any enhancements made to the technology by DuPont. GenomeWeb Daily News (free registration) (12/10)     

Industrial & Environmental

• U.S. cellulosic biofuel output to climb nearly 20-fold in 2013
  Cellulosic biofuel production is expected to reach 9.6 million gallons next year, nearly 20 times more than the approximately 500,000 gallons this year, according to data gathered by the Energy Information Administration. KiOR, Ineos Bio and Abengoa are among the companies scaling up operations. "You're seeing the commercialization and the first wave of plants coming on," Novozymes North America President Adam Monroe said. Bloomberg (12/11)     

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