Oxigene jumps on ovarian cancer drug data

Markets ended down for the week over worries about the tension in the Ukraine and Crimea and slow economic growth in China in the first two months of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.35 percent in the week, the S&P 500 dropped 1.97 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 2.1 percent. Biotech didn't fair much better with the Burrill Select Index off by 1 percent.

Oxigene was the top gainer for the week, up 90 percent on positive results from a mid-stage study of its experimental cancer drug zybrestat in combination with avastin to treat patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. The study met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant increase in progression-free survival. It is the first and currently only randomized trial to test an anti-angiogenic therapeutic agent combined with a vascular disrupting agent, without including any cytotoxic chemotherapy.

Shares of Geron fell 60 percent after it said it received notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that its Investigational New Drug application for imetelstat has been placed on full clinical hold, affecting all clinical trials of the experimental drug in essential thrombocythemia and multiple myeloma. The FDA said the clinical hold is due to the occurrence of persistent low-grade liver function test abnormalities observed in the mid-stage study of imetelstat and the potential risk of chronic liver injury following long-term exposure to imetelstat. Geron said it will work with the FDA to seek release of the clinical hold.

A faster path to clinical trials and an enhanced commitment to support industry developing the most promising therapies won approval at the recent board meeting of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM.

After much debate, the UK's drug regulatory agency will launch the Early Access to Medicines Scheme in April, its version of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Breakthrough Therapy designation. The program aims to give patients with life threatening or seriously debilitating conditions access to medicines that have not yet received marketing approval.      

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Early-stage startup Alector has entered into a collaborative research agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals focused on Alzheimer's disease, one of the most difficult diseases to treat. The deal was facilitated by the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in the Bay Area, which seeks to provide J&J access to early-stage exploratory programs.