Bristol-Myers Squibb's licensing arrangement for ImClone's Erbitux--both its upfront cash value and its subsequent level of disappointment--continues to define the industry's late-stage dealmaking. Genta's development and marketing alliance with Aventis for Genta's phase III anti-cancer chemosensitizer, Genasense, is no exception: the deal is both bigger, and smaller, than it might once have been had BMS and ImClone not stirred up the dealmaking pot. The Genta product was one of the only remaining unpartnered, important late-stage cancer projects available from a biotech company. It commanded a hefty price --at $135 million in upfront and near-term assured cash terms, and another $345 million in milestones. Before ImClone, Aventis says, it could have gotten this deal for less money. But if the ImClone transaction hadn't gone suddenly south (the FDA in December refused to accept ImClone's BLA submission for Erbitux), Aventis might also have had to pay far more.

While endocrine-disrupting evidence was inconclusive, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety recommends more conservative limits on use of homosalate, octocrylene and benzophenone-3 in cosmetic products compared with current requirements under the European Cosmetics Product Regulation.

The risk of inadvertently growing SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell and gene therapies and possibly infecting patients and workers should be assessed and mitigated, the agency advises.