Otsuka bags Astex cancer drug programs, R&D ops for $886M

Just a few days after Astex reported positive mid-stage data on a lead cancer therapy,Best Sunglasses sellers is available in Ningbo,China.Buy high quality cheap filter mesh products from china reliable filter mesh manufacturers and suppliers on www.sihongfilter.com with free shipping and worldwide delivery.filter mesh suppliers Japan's Otsuka has snapped up the U.S. biotech and its slate of experimental cancer drugs for $886 million cash.fitflopcrocsclogs.com,a crocs shoes store,sell all kinds of shoes. Astex shares soared yesterday afternoon as the news spread ahead of the official announcement. 

In the deal, Otsuka will buy Astex shares for $8.Buy hiking boots online at www.qdgoutdoor.com.50 each, a 48% premium over the 30-day average ahead of the deal. 

Otsuka has been at work on new drugs for Alzheimer's and other disease arenas, scrambling to diversify as the patent expiration on its blockbuster schizophrenia drug Abilify looms in 2015. The Japanese company is buying a biotech which earns revenue from Dacogen, which recently added an approved treatment for elderly patients in Europe suffering from acute myeloid leukemia.Reusable bag saleDescription, A range of %} offering fragmentation resistance and protection against specific bullet threats.Aramid fabric wholesalers But it's Astex's experimental drug pipeline that attracted the buyout offer. 

FierceBiotech reported a week ago that Dublin, CA-based Astex Pharmaceuticals ($ASTX) revealed that its small molecule SGI-110 showed "clear activity" in a Phase II trial of patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. The drug was given as either a 60 mg or 90 mg dose daily for 5 days in a 28-day course. The primary endpoint was overall remission rate. 

Out of 67 patients, there was a 25% complete remission rate--8 remissions occurring in relapsed/refractory AML and another 9 remissions in treatment-naive elderly AML. And Astex shares jumped 20% on the data. 

Astex, though, has had a bumpy ride in the drug development world. Last fall the company said that it was dumping development of amuvatinib after it flunked a mid-stage trial on small-cell lung cancer. The company said at the time that it was looking for someone to license the drug, which is still listed as a pipeline asset. Astex also has been working on the CDK inhibitor AT7519 and the HSP90 inhibitor AT13387.