ThromboGenics NV (Euronext Brussels: THR), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative treatments for eye disease, vascular disease and cancer announces that its second Phase III trial evaluating microplasmin for the non-surgical treatment of vitreomacular adhesion (VMA) has met its primary endpoint. Importantly, the trial also confirmed the positive results seen in the first Phase III trial with microplasmin. The results of the second Phase III trial (TG-MV-007) were presented for the first time at the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) Annual Meeting by Dr. J. Michael Jumper (West Coast Retina and Medical Group and California Pacific Medical Center, California, USA). The trial recruited 326 patients at 48 centers in Europe and the U.S.

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: SNTA), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to treat severe medical conditions, announced that the first patient has been treated in its clinical trial of STA-9090 in combination with docetaxel for the treatment of advanced solid tumor malignancies. This is the first clinical trial of STA-9090, a potent second-generation, small-molecule Hsp90 inhibitor with a chemical structure unrelated to the first-generation, ansamycin family of Hsp90 inhibitors (e.g., 17-AAG or IPI-504), in combination with another anti-cancer agent. Recent studies support synergistic anti-cancer activity of taxanes and Hsp90 inhibitors[1-9].

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: VNDA), announced it has initiated a Phase III clinical trial to evaluate tasimelteon in patients with Non-24-Hour Sleep Wake Disorder (N24HSWD), a condition experienced primarily by totally blind individuals that results in abnormal night sleep patterns and chronic daytime sleepiness. Tasimelteon binds to high affinity melatonin receptors located in the brain that are believed to regulate circadian rhythms, or sleep/wake cycles.