Immunocore Ltd, an Oxfordshire-based biotechnology company, has appointed Eva-Lotta Allan as Chief Business Officer.

The role has been newly created to strengthen the company’s management team as it develops and commercialises innovative treatments for serious diseases, based on its immunity-strengthening drug platform.

Ms Allan brings two decades’ worth of experience in business development with successful biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Immunocore’s ImmTAC platform is a T cell receptor technology that uses the body’s immune system to identify and kill diseased cells.

The company is developing a portfolio of drugs from this platform to treat cancer, diabetes and chronic infectious diseases. Its melanoma drug IMCgp100 is undergoing clinical trials in the UK and the US.

Ms Allan joins from biotech company Ablynx NV, where she has served as Chief Business Officer since 2006, contributing to its growth from a small private platform company to a significant public company.

As CBO of Ablynx, Ms Allan closed deals with leading pharmaceutical companies worth over €160m.

Previously, Ms Allan was Senior Director of Business Development and Site Operations (Europe) at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

James Noble, CEO of Immunocore, said: “I am pleased to welcome Eva-Lotta to our senior Management team and Board of Directors at this critical point for Immunocore as we expand and develop our pipeline of products. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience in business development.”

“I am delighted to be joining Immunocore at this exciting time,” commented Ms Allan. “I have been impressed by the quality of the science and unique and broad application of ImmTACs in cancer. I look forward to working with the Immunocore team and to establishing strategically important collaborations.”

CoCo Therapeutics, a new biotech company specialising in dementia treatment, has appointed Dr Steve Butcher as its Chief Operating Officer.

The London-based company has also appointed five clinical and scientific advisors, including Dr Butcher and Professor Jonathan Corcoran, the company’s founding scientist.

CoCo is developing innovative therapies for Alzheimer’s disease based on a novel target: the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-alpha) gene.

Dr Butcher was Scientific Director of the Fujisawa Institute of Neuroscience before holding executive positions in pharma (Pharmacia) and biotech (BioImage and TopoTarget).

Raj Parekh, CoCo Chairman and General Partner at Advent Venture Partners, said: “We are pleased that an individual of Steve’s calibre is now leading the programmes at CoCo Therapeutics. The Board looks forward to working closely with Steve to evaluate RAR alpha agonists in Alzheimer’s disease.”

In addition to Dr Butcher, CoCo has made four appointments to its Clinical and Scientific Advisory Group:

• Professor Clive Ballard – Co-Director of the Biomedical Unit for Dementia at the Institute of Psychiatry, Co-Director of the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, Kings College London and Director of Research for the Alzheimer’s Society.

• Professor Jonathan Corcoran – Director of the Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, Kings College London.

• Roy Lobb – consultant to the biotechnology industry, specialising in early drug discovery research.

• Andrew Wood – Venture Partner at Advent Venture Partners, formerly involved in R&D and business development at Eli Lilly.

CoCo’s RAR-alpha agonist drug development programme is based on research by Professor Corcoran’s laboratory at King’s College London that implicated the RAR-alpha gene in Alzheimer’s disease.

The European Organisation for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS) has given its annual Company Award for medical innovation in rare diseases to Celgene.

The award recognises the biotech firm’s leading position in the treatment of orphan diseases, as well as its dialogue with patient groups.

Celgene has 17 orphan drug designations from the EMA, including products to treat types of leukaemia and myeloma, and is currently developing products to treat 45 rare diseases.

Orphan diseases are defined by the EMA as conditions affecting no more than five per 10,000 people. ‘Orphan drugs’ developed to treat them have a special regulatory status.

EURORDIS is the largest European patient organisation in the field of rare diseases. Its awards recognise outstanding contributions by companies, researchers and others to reducing the impact of rare diseases on people’s lives.

“We are honoured to receive the EURORDIS Company Award for our work in rare diseases, which is a testament to the strong partnerships we have throughout Europe with the people focused on treatment options for some of the most difficult-to-study and difficult-to-treat conditions,” said Stefano Portolano, Celgene’s Vice President for Haematology, Europe.

“In the nearly 13 years since the Orphan Drug Regulation was enacted, there has been growing recognition of the need for treatments for rare diseases that help patients live longer and higher quality lives. Celgene is proud to be recognised for its contributions in this area.”

Yann Le Cam, CEO of EURORDIS, commented: “We are proud that the rare disease community is becoming a model for multi-stakeholder partnership and international collaboration as well as for solidarity and unity throughout Europe.”

Celgene Corporation, based in the US with a European subsidiary based in Switzerland, specialises in developing drugs to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases through gene and protein regulation.

A host of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will join forces alongside public research organisations and scientific experts to address the rising threat from antibiotic resistance.

Companies including GSK, AstraZeneca, Janssen and Sanofi will partner in a new £180 million research programme to boost the discovery and development of new antibiotics.

Patrick Vallance, President, Pharmaceuticals R&D at GSK said the agreement “signals a new model of collaboration” to develop treatments to tackle infections such as MRSA.

NewDrugs4BadBugs is supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) – who will jointly fund the first project with contributions from the pharma and biotech companies involved.

The objective of the collaboration is to improve the underlying scientific understanding of antibiotic resistance and design and implement clinical trials that see novel drug candidates clinically developed.

Currently, the WHO describes the pipeline of future antibiotics to counter emerging resistant bacteria as “virtually dry”.

Antibiotic resistance is increasingly becoming a worldwide health threat with new ‘superbugs’ evolving around the globe.

However, despite the urgent need for effective counteraction, research has diminished over the past 15 years with few companies remaining active in this area due to difficulties in finding new agents and regulatory complexities.

Martin Mackay, President, R&D, at AstraZeneca commented: “It is time to tackle this issue in a different way, sharing information and expertise among public and private partners – collaboration of this type is critical if we are to speed up the discovery of these medicines to improve patient health.”

Merck KGaA plans to cut back its biopharmaceutical division Merck Serono, cutting 500 jobs and transferring another 750 as it closes its Geneva headquarters.

The company plans workforce reductions across all global operations, and will

relocate Geneva-based R&D functions to Germany, the US and China.

The cutbacks, a response to falling profits and growing competitive and market pressures, will shift the division’s centre of gravity from Switzerland to Germany.

Stefan Oschmann, the Merck Executive Board member responsible for Merck Serono, said: “The planned measures for Merck Serono’s operations in Switzerland are needed to ensure our global competitive position in a rapidly changing market and to secure the long-term future of the company.

“We are committed to working closely with key stakeholders, especially affected employees, to find socially responsible solutions, including exploring potential entrepreneur partnership programs and redeployment proposals.”

Merck Serono will consolidate all headquarter functions in Darmstadt, Germany, and transfer key R&D positions from Geneva to Darmstadt, Beijing and Boston – taking advantage of the latter’s well-established biotech hub.

Of the division’s 1,250 current positions in Geneva, over 750 will be transferred and the remainder will be lost.

Merck Serono will maintain its manufacturing presence in Switzerland, including its biotech production sites in Aubonne and Corsier-sur-Vevey. Its manufacturing operations in Coinsins will be transferred to Aubonne, and 80 jobs will be lost across the three sites.

A consultation process with employees will start on April 25, and will include attempts to identify redeployment opportunities.

In addition, a dedicated team will try to help employees identify potential spin-off and start-up opportunities. Merck Serono is prepared to commit up to €30m in seed funding to support these projects.

The division plans to commence relocations and workforce reductions in the second half of 2012, to be concluded in the first half of 2013.

US company Constellation Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery partner of Roche’s Genentech, has appointed Dr Keith Dionne as CEO.

Dr Dionne has held senior roles in the pharmaceutical industry, life science investment and life science academic sectors.

He replaces outgoing CEO Dr Mark Goldsmith, who will stay on as Executive Chairman.

Constellation discovers and develops small-molecule drugs for cancer and inflammatory/immune disorders based on epigenetics, the study of gene expression mechanisms beyond DNA.

Dr Dionne most recently served as entrepreneur-in-residence at life science investment firm Third Rock Ventures. His previous roles include CEO of Aurface Logix, CEO of Alantos Pharmaceuticals, and two VP roles (for R&D and technology) at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

In his previous academic career, Dr Dionne was Adjunct Professor in the Biomedical Department at Brown University.

“With more than 20 years of experience leading US and international biotech companies, research and development teams and successful strategic alliances between companies, Keith is ideally suited to lead this phase of our organisation and advance our leadership in epigenetics drug discovery and development,” said Dr Goldsmith.

Dr Dionne commented: “I’m delighted to join Constellation at this exciting time in the company’s growth and evolution as we approach clinical milestones in our internal programmes and continue to realise the full potential of our platform in conjunction with our broad discovery alliance with Genentech.”

Sanofi has lost a legal appeal against the decision that Roche and Biogen Idec did not infringe its patent for biologic drug development.

Roche’s Genentech business and biotech specialist Biogen Idec did not steal Sanofi’s IP for genetic medicine to develop the cancer drugs Avastin and Rituxan, a US appeals court determined.

The decision reflects the growing commercial potential of biologics and the tense relationship between big pharma and the biotech sector.

The dispute began in 2008, when Genentech cancelled its long-standing licensing agreement with Sanofi. The genetic medicine specialist was acquired by Roche in 2009.

Sanofi claimed that Genentech and Biogen Idec had used its proprietary techniques to enhance gene expression, improving the efficiency of drug production.

However, the US court upheld the previous decision that in both cases, the drug production methods were different from those covered by Sanofi’s patent.

Avastin and Rituxan, both cancer drugs, are among Roche’s best-selling products: Rituxan achieved sales of $6.6bn, and Avastin $5.81bn, in 2011. Avastin is marketed by Roche, while Rituxan is co-marketed with Biogen in the US.

According to Sanofi spokesperson Carrie Brown, the company is “currently evaluating its options and next steps.”

GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson, in partnership with venture capital firm Index Ventures, are launching a €150m fund for biotechnology start-ups.

The money will be invested primarily in European companies with one or two significant projects under way that “have first-in-class or best-in-class mechanisms of action and target areas of unmet medical need”.

This follows the Wellcome Trust’s announcement of its £200m fund to support early-stage biotech companies in the UK and Europe.

GSK and J&J will each contribute a quarter of the €150m fund, with the rest to be invested by Index’s existing partners.

Moncef Slaoui, Head of R&D at GSK, said: “This unique collaboration shows our commitment to the biotech ecosystem and to continuously pursuing creative new ways to access groundbreaking new science.”

With its “unique platform of entrepreneurs” and “asset centric investing model”, he noted, “Index is well positioned to create an exciting pipeline.”

Paul Stoffels, Chairman of J&J’s pharmaceuticals business, commented that “new and creative approaches to funding early-stage innovation are crucial to the development of transformative medicine”.

The Wellcome Trust has created Sigma, a new business with initial capital of £200m to provide funding and guidance to emerging biotech companies.

Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Trust, said the new company has a long-term perspective, aiming “to give small and medium-sized companies the support they require to fulfil their potential”.

Patent applications for biologics by leading pharmaceutical companies are surging further ahead of applications for small-molecule drugs, according to a new report.

Another report notes that the next few years will offer major opportunities for pharma companies to develop biosimilars.

Both of these findings reflect the increasing importance of biotechnology in drug development.

Research by patent law specialist Withers & Rogers shows that while the number of patent applications for biologics has exceeded that for small-molecule drugs for 15 years, the gap has widened rapidly since 2007.

The legal firm’s analysis of the top 10 global pharma companies reveals that the gap between the numbers of patents filed for biologics and for small molecules grew by 14.5% between 2007 and 2009.

By 2009, 60% of the drug patents filed by these companies were for biologics.

Novartis made the greatest number of patent applications for biologics in 2009, followed by Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co.

Nicholas Jones, patent attorney at Withers & Rogers, said that despite the impact of “economic uncertainty and cost pressures facing big pharma as blockbuster drugs hit the patent cliff, R&D interest in biologics has remained strong.”

He noted although “it is considerably easier to develop and manufacture small-molecule drugs”, major drug companies may be “increasingly willing to compete with major generics producers for a share of the follow-on biologics market”.

Growth partnership company Frost & Sullivan (F&S) reached the same conclusion in a report on the growing opportunity for biosimilars in the European drug market, where numerous blockbuster biologics are nearing the patent cliff.

However, the report noted, the cost of developing and manufacturing biosimilars makes them financially a more high-risk option than conventional generics.

Srinivas Sashidhar, Research Analyst at F&S, said: “$100 billion worth biologics are expected to go off patent by 2020, as a result of which the market is likely to hold significant potential.”

Before this potential can be exploited, he commented, “Improvements concerning the manufacturing and the clinical development processes of biosimilars have to take place.”

The report predicted the European biosimilars market will grow from $172m in 2010 to $3,987 in 2017, at a CAGR of 56.7%.

To overcome the challenges in the way of access to the growing biosimilars market, Sashidhar said, “Collaborations among large pharmaceutical companies with financial capabilities and specialty biotech companies with technical expertise are expected. The strong integration of marketing and research and development skills is the key to success in the biosimilars market.”

F&S expects the growing biosimilars market to drive growth in such therapy areas as diabetes and oncology, where biologics are having the greatest impact.

J&J is creating a new biotech and health IT ‘innovation centre’ as part of its pharmaceutical facility in San Diego.

The healthcare giant expects 18 to 20 life science start-up companies to join the new centre, to be called ‘Janssen Labs at San Diego’.

Diego Miralles, who oversees J&J’s San Diego centre, said: “It’s a completely ‘no-strings attached’ business model.”

He said that start-up companies in the new centre will pay a monthly ‘licensing fee’ to J&J, but the landlord agreement does not grant J&J an equity stake in the businesses.

He estimated the innovation centre will be made up of “modular and flexible” offices available for companies developing mostly biotech and health IT-related technologies. The companies would share a common area for the storage of high-end research equipment, as well as office supplies and other tools.

J&J plans to open the new centre by April 2012.