Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") announced that its investigational compound TAK-536 has entered into Phase 2 clinical stage in Japan. TAK-536 is an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) discovered by Takeda and its mechanism of action is to lower blood pressure by inhibiting action of a vasopressor hormone Angiotensin II. 
Patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or angioplasty, experienced nearly 50 percent less bleeding at 30 days and comparable mortality at one-year when treated with Angiox(R) (bivalirudin) alone compared to unfractionated heparin or enoxaparin plus a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (GPI), according to data from the ACUITY trial. 
Journalists Gabriela Navarra from Argentina and Michael Kefalogiannis from Greece won the Novo Nordisk Media Prize 2007 for the best article in lay press and the best TV feature about diabetes, respectively. The awards were presented by the president and CEO of Novo Nordisk, Lars Rebien Sørensen, during a ceremony held on 28 August in Copenhagen. InferMed has a long-standing relationship with Cancer Research UK, and was backed by the charity at its formation in 1999. A research relationship continues with Cancer Research UK, which remains InferMed's largest institutional shareholder.
Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced that the U.S. Federal District Court in Boston granted Amgen's motion for summary judgment and ruled that Roche's pegylated-erythropoietin ("peg-EPO") product will infringe Amgen's EPO pharmaceutical composition patent number 5,955,422. In a separate decision yesterday, the Court also granted summary judgment in favor of Amgen on certain Roche defenses against the patents-in-suit.