The Burrill Report

Nearly $700,000 in gold dust has gone missing from a Pfizer lab in Chesterfield, Missouri. Pfizer and local authorities are unsure how it disappeared. Police were called in after a Pfizer employee who was conducting inventory failed to find the gold dust. According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, depending on the purity of the gold dust, the amount that went missing could weigh from 30 to 70 pounds. While Pfizer hasn’t said why it was using gold in its labs, researchers have been experimenting with gold nanoparticles for quite some time. Gold nanoparticles are a popular choice for medical research, diagnostic testing and cancer treatment. A Pfizer spokesman said that the company would not comment any further on the matter until the police investigation has been completed.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals said that it would be shedding 38 jobs, half its workforce, following setbacks and delays in the development of certain drug programs. “The strategic focus and restructuring is based on an evaluation of our programs and operations, following the setbacks in our peramivir and BCX5191 programs, as well as the delay of our BCX4161 program,” said Jon Stonehouse, CEO of BioCryst. The company expects to save between $15 million and $18 million in 2013 as a result of the restructuring and intends to use the savings to strengthen its hereditary angioedema and antiviral programs.

Chelsea Therapeutics said that though its experimental hypotension drug, Northera, met the main goal of a study by reducing dizziness in patients at week one, it failed to prove efficacy beyond that period. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve Northera in March, and asked for addition data to prove that the hypotension drug was effective over a two to three month period. Chelsea said that although preliminary data showed improvements in dizziness, lightheadedness and standing blood pressure in treated patients over patients given a placebo beyond one week, the results were not statistically significant. Chelsea’s shares fell 22 percent to $1.40 in extended trading on the day of the announcement.

Wilex says it will restructure following poor results from a late-stage study of Rencarex that failed to meet its primary endpoint. Wilex had been running a late-stage study testing the drug for treatment of clear cell renal cell carcinoma, but found the drug offered no improvement in median disease-free survival compared to a placebo group. The company has decided to discontinue development of the drug and said that the workforce at its Munich, Germany site will be reduced by about 25 percent.

QLT said that it would reduce its workforce by 42 percent to better align its resources with the company’s corporate objectives following the recent sale of Visudyne to Valeant Pharmaceuticals. QLT expects to record a $2 million restructuring charge and to recognize about $3.8 million in reduced annual expenses once the reduction is fully implemented in the first half of 2013. The job cuts will leave QLT with 38 remaining full-time employees who will focus on clinical development of the company’s Synthetic Oral Retinoid program.












December 06, 2012
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-700000_in_gold_dust_goes_missing_from_pfizer_lab.html