Inside these posts: Biotech

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Abbott wins appeal of Humira patent enfringement

Abbott's Humira drug. (Handout)

Turning back a threat to sales of Abbott Laboratories’ most lucrative drug, a federal appeals court Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling that claimed the North Chicago drug giant used Johnson & Johnson’s technology to makeĀ  a blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug.

Humira is Abbott’s largest-selling product and one of the world’s top-selling drugs, generating more than $5 billion in annual sales as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and psoriasis among other autoimmune disorders.

The ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eastern District of Texas overturned a $1.67 billion verdict against Abbott from Marshall County. At the time of the lower court ruling last year, observers said it was known for being friendly to plaintiffs. Get the full story »

BIO to return to Chicago in 2013 and 2016

Mayor Richard M. Daley and Governor Pat Quinn open the Bio International Convention at McCormick Place on May 4, 2010. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune)

The Biotechnology Industry Organization said its international convention will return to Chicago’s McCormick Place in 2013 and 2016.

“Chicago has hosted two successful and exciting BIO International Conventions, in 2006 and 2010, and we are thrilled to bring the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry back to the windy city and the Midwest,” said Jim Greenwood, chief executive officer of the BIO International Convention.

The convention attracts more than 15,000 people from the agricultural, pharmaceutical and medical device industries as well as government leaders from around the world. Get the full story »

Genzyme makes case for demanding higher Sanofi bid

Genzyme Corp. made its case for why it is worth more than Sanofi-Aventis’s $18.5 billion offer, forecasting 2011 profit above Wall Street estimates and sales of $3 billion for its experimental multiple sclerosis drug. Get the full story »

Boeing to test China biofuel

Boeing Co., in cooperation with Air China Ltd. and others, plans to test a commercial-jet biofuel in China produced from a locally grown plant by the middle of 2011-part of an effort to commercialize cleaner fuels world-wide and bolster China’s potential as a biofuel provider.

Boeing first tested a biofuel on a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 jet in early 2008 in London. It has since conducted similar tests a few more times, each time experimenting with different types of biofuels on different engines. The China demonstration flight, expected to be conducted by May or June next year, would be Boeing’s sixth such demonstration flight using a biofuel, said a Boeing executive, Al Bryant, in an interview Monday with The Wall Street Journal. Get the full story »

Horizon Pharma files to sell up to $86.3M in IPO

Biopharmaceutical company Horizon Pharma Inc. plans to sell up to an estimated $86.3 million in an initial public offering. The shares are expected to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol HZNP. Get the full story »

Sanofi-Aventis makes $18B bid for Genzyme

Shares in Sanofi-Aventis SA are trading near a low for the year amid new reports that the French pharmaceutical giant is close to launching an $18 billion takeover offer for U.S. biotechnology firm Genzyme Corp.

Gore speech at biotech convention will be open

By Bruce Japsen
| Though a much-touted Chicago appearance today of former Presidents
George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will not be open to the public or the
press at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s annual meeting, the group
has offered up former Vice President Al Gore for five minutes tomorrow.

BIO said the first “five minutes of the Vice President’s keynote address
will be open” to registered media. Gore’s keynote address is sponsored
by California-based biotech giant Amgen Inc. The fees being paid to Gore for his
appearance are not being disclosed, BIO said.

Get the full story »