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

• EpiCept, Immune Pharmaceuticals sign merger deal
  Swedish drugmaker EpiCept entered into a merger agreement with Immune Pharmaceuticals. The combined firm will retain the name Immune Pharmaceuticals and will specialize in antibody drugs and targeted therapies for inflammatory diseases and cancer. Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (11/8)     

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Health Care & Policy

• Companies ally to develop multiple sclerosis diagnostic
  DioGenix and Fast Forward, a subsidiary of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, agreed to collaborate in the development of a molecular diagnostic test for multiple sclerosis. Fast Forward will give DioGenix $500,000 for an ongoing clinical study of MSPrecise, a next-generation sequencing assay that measures mutations in the adaptive immune system by examining B cells from cerebral spinal fluid. GenomeWeb Daily News (free registration) (11/8)     

• GSK returns Horizant U.S. rights to XenoPort
  XenoPort will regain rights to develop and market its postherpetic neuralgia drug Horizant, or gabapentin enacarbil, in the U.S. after agreeing to end a collaboration deal with GlaxoSmithKline effective April 30, 2013. With the termination of the deal, Xenoport will pay GSK $1 million annually for six years, starting in 2016, for the latter's gabapentin enacarbil inventory that won't be used to produce Horizant. Fox Business/Dow Jones Newswires (11/8)     

• Regeneron and Sanofi kicks off Phase III trial of cholesterol drug
  Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals started patient enrollment for a late-stage trial of SAR236553, or REGN727, an experimental drug designed to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The trial, which will involve 18,000 patients, will assess the safety and efficacy of the drug, in combination with statins, in lowering cardiovascular illness and death among patients with acute coronary syndrome. Pharmaceutical Business Review Online (11/6)     

• NIH launches integrated genetics database
  The NIH's new ClinVar database integrates data from dozens of databases and allows clinical testing laboratories to contribute their data. The database describes diseases using standard nomenclature, allows data to be incorporated into other software and supports complex searches. "It provides a forum that is computer readable for people to develop tools to find connections between genetics and disease," said James Ostell of the NIH's National Center for Biotechnology Information. Nature (11/7)     

Company & Financial News

• MEI Pharma raises $27.5M to advance cancer drugs
  MEI Pharma secured $27.5 million from new investors. The firm will use the proceeds to further develop Pracinostat, an oral histone deacetylase inhibitor, as a cancer therapy and to advance two cancer drug candidates based on its isoflavone-based technology platform. ProactiveInvestors.co.au (Australia) (11/6), MedCityNews.com (11/5)     

• Developer of deuterium-based drugs gets $25M in financing
  Auspex Pharmaceuticals obtained $25 million in a Series D financing round led by Panorama Capital. Proceeds will go toward the late-stage trial of the company's lead drug candidate SD-809, a deuterium-based analog of Xenazine, or tetrabenazine, an FDA-approved drug for involuntary movements caused by Tourette syndrome, Huntington’s disease, and tardive dyskinesia. Xconomy/San Diego (11/8)     

• Opko Health wins $1M grant to develop TB diagnostic test
  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $1 million to Opko Health to develop a test to screen for tuberculosis. The assay, which will run on the company's molecular diagnostics platform, will be used to differentiate active TB from latent TB. GenomeWeb Daily News (free registration) (11/7)     

Food & Agriculture

• Ceres' biotech rice project wins $3.5M USAID grant
  The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded Ceres an additional four-year, $3.5 million grant to continue field trials and development of biotech traits in rice for Asia. BiofuelsDigest.com (11/9)     

Industrial & Environmental

• Researchers find a way to put more energy into biofuels
  Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found a way to boost the energy content of biofuels, according to a report in the journal Nature. The process entails using the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum to break down sugars into acetone and ethanol, which are then subjected to a process called chemical catalysis to increase their energy content. The process could pave the way for greater production of biofuels for jet engines and industrial vehicles. Los Angeles Times/Science Now blog (tiered subscription model) (11/7)     

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