This Month in Business
Abbott and Zeiss join forces, Valeant and Allergan continue to battle
In an interesting move, Abbott and Carl Zeiss Meditec (CZM) have announced a non-exclusive commercial collaboration in the USA. Along with their own products, Abbott’s US salesforce will now offer CZM’s cataract surgery products to their customers. CZM’s retail channels will continue to sell their own products through their own channels in the USA.
The Valeant-Allergan takeover saga continues: Valeant and Bill Ackman have filed against Allergan in a Federal court in California, accusing the company of spreading misleading information in an attempt to block the takeover; Allergan denies the accusations and is still seeking to have the duo’s stake excluded from their December shareholder meeting.
Meanwhile, Valeant sent a letter to Allergan’s board of directors confirming that “Valeant is prepared to improve its offer and provide value to your shareholders of at least $200 a share” – which certainly beats the current offer on the table of $179 per share.
French company Nicox is continuing its expansion strategy. Following the acquisition of ophthalmic company Doliage and of the anti-viral eye drop Carragelose, Nicox has now formed an exclusive distribution agreement with OptiMed in Australia and New Zealand.
We covered TxCell SA’s personalized Col-Treg cell therapy for the treatment of uveitis back in our June issue. The French company has now announced that their treatment has demonstrated both safety and efficacy in a mouse model study, and that a Phase I/II clinical trial is scheduled to start in Q2 2015.
I have an extensive academic background in the life sciences, having studied forensic biology and human medical genetics in my time at Strathclyde and Glasgow Universities. My research, data presentation and bioinformatics skills plus my ‘wet lab’ experience have been a superb grounding for my role as a deputy editor at Texere Publishing. The job allows me to utilize my hard-learned academic skills and experience in my current position within an exciting and contemporary publishing company.
