Synta gets $15m from Glaxo on cancer drug

December 13, 2008

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. said it received $15 million from British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC under a development agreement for the potential cancer treatment elesclomol. The Lexington biopharmaceutical company said it is eligible for a total of $585 million in milestone payments from Glaxo for making progress in the clinic or with regulatory filings. Elesclomol, which has not been approved in any market, is being studied as a treatment that triggers cancer cell death. (AP)

Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's largest carrier after acquiring Northwest Airlines, is offering a new round of voluntary buyouts that will include more younger employees. Workers with at least 10 years of service whose seniority time and age total at least 55 will be eligible, chief executive Richard Anderson said. The Atlanta-based carrier's last round of buyouts required 60 years of combined age and service. Delta hasn't said how many more jobs it needs to eliminate as it moves to trim capacity by up to 8 percent in 2009. (Bloomberg)

The first high-tech, long-acting treatment for hepatitis C in children, a two-drug combination from Schering-Plough Corp., has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Schering-Plough said the FDA had approved sales of a treatment combining its antiviral pill, Rebetol, with its PEG-Intron, an advanced, genetically engineered version of the immune system protein interferon, for children aged 3 to 17 infected with the hepatitis C virus. An estimated 130,000 American children are infected with hepatitis C, with most of them acquiring it from an infected mother while in the womb. (AP)

American International Group, the US insurer under fire for paying 168 executives not to quit after a government takeover, is giving retention awards to at least 2,000 employees, according to a person familiar with the matter. The "retention bonus" equals as much as a year's salary and recipients were ordered to keep the payment secret, said the person, who declined to be named because the plan was labeled confidential. Awards were offered to as many as 10 percent of staff at businesses that are for sale, the person said. (Bloomberg)

Sanderson State Bank of Texas was closed by regulators, the 25th US bank seized this year and the second failure yesterday. Sanderson, with $37 million in assets and $27.9 million in deposits, was shut by the Texas Department of Banking. Earlier, regulators closed Haven Trust Bank of Duluth, Ga., with $572 million in assets and $515 million in deposits. (Bloomberg)

Irish drug maker Elan Corp. PLC plans to save $20 million to $25 million by shedding 114 jobs and closing its Tokyo and New York offices as a major shareholder called for its top executive to step down. The cost cuts come as Elan works to offset slower growth of its lead drug Tysabri, which it comarkets with Biogen Idec Ltd. of Cambridge - for multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease - and strengthen its balance sheet. In a letter to Elan chairman Kyran McLaughlin, Crabtree Partners cofounder Jack Schuler - who said he owns 5.5 million shares of the company - called for chief executive Kelly Martin to step down. (Reuters)