While You Were Long Weekending

We hope you enjoyed the long Memorial Day / Bank Holiday weekend, and that the sun shone whether you attended a parade or laid a wreath or barbecued or landed the space shuttle Atlantis or took two of three from the Yankees or won the Monaco Grand Prix.

So, while you were ...

• ... exercising: Amgen has exercised its option to Cytokinetics' cardiac contractility program. Cytokinetics got $75 million up-front in a combined stock sale and technology license fee in the January 2007 deal that gave Amgen the option on the then-Phase I heart failure drug CK1827452. So far today Cytokinetics has announced a 9am conference call, and Andy Pollack at the NYT is reporting the alliance is a go. The deal's original terms called for Cytokinetics to foot the R&D bill, so the $50 million from Amgen triggered by today's news will come in handy; oh, and the usual biobucks milestones and royalties.
• ... resigning: out with the old at Daiichi's Ranbaxy unit as CEO Malvinder Singh was ousted and COO Abtul Sobti promoted to the top spot.
• ... euphemizing: Awwww, it's business time. Sciele has licensed worldwide rights (word doc) to Plethora's Phase III candidate for premature ejaculation, PSD502. Plethora gets $8.4mm up-front for the additional territories (Sciele had licensed US rights in 2007).
  
• ... making up new words: Chugai has expanded its commercial license to Gene Bridges' 'recombineering' technology, Red/ET.
  
• ... twittering (during brain surgery): yep, the NYT explores how hospitals are on the (excuse us) cutting edge by web-casting and twittering and generally being hip to new media while simultaneously removing gall bladders and kidneys and tumors of all sorts from patients.
  
• ... settling: Biovail's proxy contest with Eugene Melnyk? It's over. Biogen's fight with Icahn? Not over, yet.
  
• ... blocking: CSL says the US Federal Trade Commission may block its $3.1 billion takeover of PE-backed Talecris Biotherapeutics. Reuters has the story.
• ... approving: FDA has approved tadalafil for PAH. United Therapeutics licensed rights to market the drug in PAH from Lilly late last year.
  

image: NASA