Iris Pharma : New Key in vivo Model Of Ocular Inflammation

Nice, France - February 17, 2011 - Iris Pharma, a world leader CRO specialized in ophthalmology, announced the validation of the Endotoxin-Induced Uveitis (EIU) model, a new model of ocular inflammation. This model has been developed by Iris Pharma in albino rats to evaluate the efficacy of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of anterior uveitis and other inflammatory diseases in the eye.
Anterior uveitis is the inflammation of the middle layer of the eye, which includes the iris and the adjacent ciliary body. Of uncertain aetiology, it is associated with a wide variety of systemic disorders in human. It is the most common form of uveitis, accounting for 75% of all cases...

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...About Iris Pharma:
Iris Pharma is an independent CRO that specializes in preclinical and clinical research in the field of ophthalmology. Founded in 1989 by Dr Pierre-Paul Elena, Iris Pharma offers its services and expertise in the development of ophthalmic drugs and ocular medical devices to the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology companies around the world. Among its clients, 8 out of the top 10 worlds largest pharmaceuticals have chosen Iris Pharma. The company has five main areas of activity: preclinical studies and services, clinical trials (Phase I and IV and medico-marketing surveys), bioanalysis, preclinical formulation, and consulting services. Iris Pharma was recently awarded the "High Performance Prize" from the Newspaper Les Echos in recognition of its growth performance... Iris Pharma's Press Release -

Innate Pharma : updates on its drug candidates - 2010 financial results

Marseilles, France, March 2, 2011 - Situation bilancielle saine et consommation de trésorerie maîtrisée - Deux candidats médicament en essais cliniques, dont l’un est licencié à Novo Nordisk A/S - Six essais cliniques aux États-Unis et en Europe pour le programme IPH 21 - Innate Pharma (Euronext Paris: FR0010331421 – IPH) reports its consolidated financial results for the year ending December 31, 2010. Unaudited consolidated financial statements are attached to this press release.
The key elements of these results are as follows:

• Operating revenue amounting 4.3 million euros (vs. 7.7 million euros in 2009), primarily from a research tax credit as well as, to a lesser extent, collaboration agreements with Novo Nordisk A/S;
• Operating expenses amounting to 18.0 million euros (vs. 23.3 million euros in 2009), of which about 80% is in research and development;
• Net loss amounting to 13.7 million euros (vs. 14.6 millions euros in 2009); and Cash, cash equivalents and current financial instruments amounting to 34.6 million euros as at December 31, 2010, with 7.5 million euros in debt, including 4.4 million euros for the long-term financing of property and equipment. Based on its current programs, the Company estimates that this situation corresponds to a cash runway into 2013.

In the course of 2010, the Company progressed in the clinical development of the IPH 21 program, with the continuation of the ongoing trials and the set-up of new Phase II trials in multiple myeloma with IPH 2101, as well as the initiation of a first clinical trial with IPH 2102.
It has also continued its effort on new targets validation in the field of innate immunity and the development of antibodies targeting them.
At the beginning of 2011, Novo Nordisk A/S filed a new clinical trial application for IPH 2201, which is expected to be the third program arising from the collaboration between the two companies to enter clinical trials. This achievement triggered the payment of a milestone to Innate Pharma.
Lastly, within the context of a strategic review of its portfolio and after discussions with potential partners relating to a development partnership for IPH 1101, the Company has concluded that further pursuit of partnering activities for IPH 1101 is not warranted. The Company has consequently decided to focus its efforts on antibody programs, consistently with its positioning...

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...About Innate Pharma:
Innate Pharma S.A. is a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class immunotherapy drugs for cancer and inflammatory diseases.
The Company specializes in the development of new monoclonal antibodies targeting receptors and pathways controlling the activation of innate immunity cells. Its most advanced drug candidate is IPH 2101, an anti-KIR monoclonal antibody potentiating NK cells activation currently in Phase II clinical trials in hematologic cancers. Two of its antibody programs in chronic inflammation are out-licensed to Novo Nordisk A/S.
Innate Pharma’s key expertise is in immunopharmacology and antibody technology. The Company has implemented in-house a large panel of molecular and cellular assays and in vivo models for assessing the pharmacodynamics and pharmacotoxicology of drug candidates. In addition, Innate Pharma has access to a very large set of unique research tools in cellular immunology through its worldwide network of scientific collaborations.
Incorporated in 1999 and listed on NYSE-Euronext in Paris in 2006, Innate Pharma is based in Marseilles, France, and had 86 employees as at December 31, 2010... Innate Pharma's Press Release - Communiqué de Presse Innate Pharma -

Eurofins Scientific : agreement to acquire Lancaster Laboratories, Inc.

24 February 2011 - Eurofins Scientific SE (Paris: EUFI.PA) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Lancaster Laboratories, Inc. (Lancaster, PA, USA) from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (Waltham, MA, USA) for approximately US$200m, subject to post-closing adjustments.

With approximately 1,100 employees in the USA and Ireland, Lancaster is the leading provider of pharmaceutical product testing services and cGMP Quality Control (QC) in North America. In addition, it operates one of the leading environmental testing laboratories in the USA. Lancaster has been growing rapidly over the last 50 years and generated sales of approximately US$115m in 2010. Lancaster operates the largest single-site independent pharmaceutical product testing laboratory in the world.

With this bolt on acquisition, the Eurofins Group becomes the global leader in this very stable and recurring business and significantly enlarges its North American footprint. It is a further expression of Eurofins’ commitment to serve the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with laboratory services of the highest quality and reliability. The acquisition reinforces the Group’s leadership in terms of scale and quality of service on a wide range of laboratory activities for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries in North America, Europe and Asia...

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...About Eurofins - Global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins Scientific is a life sciences company operating internationally to provide a comprehensive range of analytical testing services to clients from a wide range of industries including the pharmaceutical, food and environmental sectors.

With 8,000 staff in more than 150 laboratories across 30 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 40,000 reliable analytical methods for evaluating the authenticity, origin, safety, identity, composition and purity of biological substances and products. The Group is committed to providing its customers with high quality services, accurate results in time and, if requested, expert advice by its highly qualified staff.

The Eurofins Group is the world leader in food testing and one of the global market leaders in pharmaceuticals and environmental testing. It intends to pursue its dynamic growth strategy and expand both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and the most comprehensive range of testing methods.

As one of the most innovative and quality oriented international players in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients’ increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the demands of regulatory authorities around the world... Eurofins Scientific's Press Release - Communiqué de Presse Eurofins Scientific -

SuperSonic Imagine : Validation of Clinical Benefits of ShearWave Elastography, Demonstrating Increased Performance in Breast Cancer Diagnosis

March 5th, 2011 (Aix-en-Provence, France)- Study Results with validation on European Sub Population were presented at the European Congress of Radiology (Vienna) on March 4th
during a conference symposium - SuperSonic Imagine presented the validation of a world wide multicentre study, based on European recruitment, confirming the benefit of ShearWave Elastography when added to ultrasound for improved lesion classification.

Launched by SuperSonic Imagine in June 2008, the global, multi-centre study was conducted across 16 American and European sites involving 1,800 patients with breast lesions.

The first major result of this study demonstrated that ShearWave Elastography is reproducible both quantitatively and qualitatively. This reproducible technology provides strong assurance of precise tissue evaluation during diagnosis and is expected to be also useful in follow-up.

The second important outcome is a statistical model based on 939 lesions, which showed that ShearWave Elastography increases the performance of ultrasound breast cancer diagnosis. The addition of ShearWave Elastography features, such as maximum elasticity (stiffness) or heterogeneity (uniformity) of a lesion, to B-mode ultrasound, would permit an improvement in the BI-RADS® classification accuracy, (standardization tool for breast lesion classification from the American College of Radiology) improving breast diagnosis...

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...About SuperSonic Imagine :
Founded in 2005 and based in Aix-en-Provence, France, SuperSonic Imagine is an innovative, multinational medical imaging company dedicated to developing a revolutionary ultrasound system: the Aixplorer®, This system leverages a unique MultiWave™ technology that enables the user to detect . characterize and, in the future, treat palpable and non-palpable masses. This unique technology is based on combining two types of waves: an ultrasound wave that provides exceptional imaging in B-mode, and a shear wave which measures and displays the stiffness of tissue in kilopascals (ShearWave Elastography™). Engineers from all over the world have joined the SuperSonic Imagine team and the company now has offices in Aix-en- Provence, Seattle, London and Munich... [PDF] SuperSonic Imagine's Press Release - PDF du communiqué de presse de SuperSonic Imagine -