This Week’s Biotech Highlights

Citius, Altius, Fortius. Let me join the (undoubtedly numerous) others appropriating olympic symbolism this week. In this case, the olympic motto (Swifter, Higher, Stronger) happens to be a timely way to summarize this week’s biotech news.

Citius:Matthew Herper at Forbes called for faster communication to investors when companies deviate from their agreed clinical trial plan with the FDA. Herper suggested that the FDA should disclose the actual agreements with the companies; but I argued that as with any other material information, it is the company’s job to communicate with its investors.

Altius: This week certainly saw higher than normal deal volume, with over $100 million of Canadian deals. Labopharm and ProMetric announced headline securities deals, MDS announced its final divestiture, and Biovail and Bioniche both made licensing announcements.

Fortius: Changes to Canadian insolvency legislation created stronger protection for intellectual property licensees. The U.S. has long provided protection against termination of some license rights in insolvency, and Canadian amendments now provide the right to continued use o intellectual property even if the licensor becomes insolvent, though the right is conditional upon the licensee’s continued performance of its obligations under the license agreement.

Remember, you can check your haemoglobin levelscatch up on the latest biotech news any time at the Cross-Border Biotech Blog and on Twitter @crossborderbio. Good luck to all the athletes competing in the Vancouver games!