Celgene (NYSE:CELG) has made a $15 million strategic investment in a cancer drug developer, which gives it a seat on the company’s board and opens up collaboration opportunities down the road.Acetylon Pharmaceuticals uses histone deacetylase or HDAC inhibitors to develop small molecule cancer treatmentsas well as treatments for autoimmune and other diseases. The lead drug [...]

Celgene (NYSE:CELG) has acquired cancer drug developer Avila Therapeutics in a deal valued up to $925 million if milestones are reached.Avila’s therapeutic platform involves the development of covalent drugs, which latch onto or bond with target cells and effectively neutralize those cells.Avila’s lead therapeutic, AVL-292, is a lymphoma and autoimmune drug in phase 1 clinical [...]

The CEO of Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Research Center is the focus of a $1 billion lawsuit filed by a cancer research institute at the University of Pennsylvania for allegedly stealing the innovative cancer treatment he developed while serving as a director there.Dr. Craig Thompson was the scientific director of the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family [...]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s chief of staff is returning to the pharmaceutical industry in a newly created position with Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) next month.Richard Bagger will serve as senior vice president, corporate affairs and strategic market access, with responsibility for all government and public affairs, strategic market access, communications and patient advocacy initiatives, according [...]

Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG), a Summit, New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company, has stopped a phase 3 trial of its blockbuster drug Revlamid for castrate-resistant prostate cancer after data showed the drug had failed to prolong life.The double-blind study was evaluating the efficacy and safety of the drug in combination with chemotherapy drug Docetaxel and the steroid Prednisone. A [...]

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMS) posted net income of $969 million in the third quarter of 2011 and is optimistic about its pipeline of drugs approaching or in phase 3 trials as they near approval. It may have something to do with its blockbuster blood-thinning drug, Plavix, which has projected sales of $7 billion this year and [...]

The Wall Street Journal tested three leading online personal health record systems — Google Health, Microsoft’s HealthVault and WebMD’s Health Manager. None of the three emerged as a clear winner, though the Journal concluded that PHRs offer “a remarkable value for a free application.”

Sometimes acquiring other drugmakers is the way to fill your company’s development pipeline with new drugs. On Tuesday, Schering-Plough Corp. CEO Fred Hassan, a speaker at the Cleveland Clinic’s ongoing Medical Innovation Summit, flew to Texas to launch Saphris, an anti-psychotic drug acquired in 2007.