Biopharmaceutical companies have been outsourcing R&D activity to CROs for a while, but neither they nor CROs have sorted out which side should bear the burden of what kind of risk and how to best structure operations.

Rather than partner its implantable formulation of exenatide, the biotech turned to hedge funds and other non-traditional investors for the year’s largest round of private capital. The deal enables Intarcia to begin Phase III trials on lead program ITCA-650 for type 2 diabetes, which it believes could be a blockbuster.

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.