Month: April 2013

(Reuters) – Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc said it will form an alliance with Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG to develop treatments for Huntington's disease, a genetic brain disorder, based on the U.S. company's technology. Roche will pay Isis $30 million upfront and up to $362 million in licensing and milestone payments. Isis will also receive tiered royalties on sales of any commercial drugs that result from the partnership. Development will initially focus on Isis's lead drug candidate that blocks the production of all forms of the Huntingtin protein, responsible for the disorder. …

(Reuters) – Canadian pharmaceutical company Resverlogix Corp, which is exploring a sale, said it would spin off its RVX Therapeutics Inc unit. Resverlogix shares touched a more than two-year high of C$3.49 in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shareholders will receive one share in the new company for every share held in Resverlogix, the company said. The spun-off unit will focus on epigenetics, the study of the mechanisms that activate and de-activate genes. The company, which has a market capitalization of about C$242 million ($237. …

By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday became the first prominent Republican to publicly praise, however lukewarmly, the budget proposal the White House outlined last week. Graham said that while he believes President Barack Obama's plan is overall bad for the economy, "there are nuggets of his budget that I think are optimistic," and that could set the stage for a broad bargain to put the nation's finances on a stronger footing. He was speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. …

Being manly and powerful isn’t about muscles.

Amy Frankel wanted to lose weight, so she tried the Overnight Diet, a new rapid weight-loss plan that claims you can actually lose weight while you sleep. Frankel, a 42-year-old mother of one from Wayland, Mass., said she literally lost weight overnight, and during the…

BEIJING (AP) — The World Health Organization is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has sickened at least 24 people, killing seven of them.