Covidien (COV) expanded its reach into neurodevices, buying brain monitoring company Somanetics (SMTS) for $250 million and endovascular company EV3 (EVVV) for $2.6 billion (see story, page 10). Covidien was already the European distributor for the Somanetics product line, but the Ev3 purchase gives the company a significant foothold in a new high growth area. Ev3 had $450 million in 2009 revenues about 1/3 of which were from neurovascular products. Shares of Biovail (BVF) and Valeant (VRX) were up 28% and 13%, respectively, for the month of June after the companies announced a merger which will result in a new Valeant with a significant neuropharma focus and beneficial tax structure. Biovail has been a noteworthy driver of neuropharma deals in the past three years, and that may slow as the two companies work to merge operations, prioritize leads and eliminate inefficiencies (see story, page 12)...
Schizophrenia: Are "Next Generation" Antipsychotics Any Better Than the Last?
Schizophrenia is a disorder that predominantly affects adolescents and young adults and most often leads to life-long dependency. Several subtypes of schizophrenia have been identified and the classic list includes paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, and undifferentiated schizophrenia. A more modern view is based on the severity of so-called "negative" (or deficit) symptoms as well as a separation of deficit and nondeficit subtypes. Second generation antipsychotics, known as atypical antipsychotics were developed in the past decade with a specific aim to better negative symptoms. The drugs were hailed as a significant breakthrough and a major improvement. The compounds are generally less selective than the earlier drugs, with multiple mechanisms of action outside the dopaminergic system. They are also used for other conditions apart from schizophrenia or schizophrenia-related disorders. This article outlines symptoms, subtypes and treatments in development for schizophrenia...

PharmaNeuroBoost: Small Addition May Give Big Boost to Psychotropics
PharmaNeuroBoost was founded in 2006 by Dr. Erik Buntinx, a psychiatrist in Alken, Belgium. The company is based on a discovery Buntinx made in his private practice three years earlier. He found that low doses of pipamperone, an older and rarely used antipsychotic that is only approved in a few European countries and Japan, could improve the efficacy of antidepressants such as citalopram when the two were used together. Buntinx immediately filed IP on his discovery. He then started working with Dr. Anton Megens, a scientist at Janssen Pharmaceutica (a subsidiary of JNJ) to elucidate the mechanism of action for his discovery. The two performed preclinical proof of concept studies that ultimately led to a publication and the formation of PharmaNeuroBoost. That company now owns the IP relating to the use of highly selective 5HT-2A/D4 antagonists in combination with psychotropics to “boost” their performance...

Companies Covered In This Issue Include: Neurologix, Enteromedics, Arena, Cephalon, R-Tech, Depomed, Merck, CoLucid, Biogen Idec, Santhera, SanBio, NMT Medical, Adolor, Naurex, Ardian, CVRx, Enteromedics, Orexigen, Forest, Gedeon, Ekos, Optinose, Quark, Numoda, Orasi, Lundbeck, Kendle, Elminda, Monteris, Neurosky, Lineagen, Zacharon, Targacept, AstraZeneca, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Intra-cellular Therapies, EnVivo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, PharmaNeuroBoost, BioVail, Covidien, Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Quintiles, Prana, Benechill, FoldRx, Tranzyme, Norgine, Symbios, Valeant, Synapdx, Somanetics, CTD Holdings, QR Pharma, Pharnext, IntelGenx, Boehringer, Phytopharm, Forest Labs, Star Scientific, Novartis, Collegium, Questcor, Upsher-Smith, Bristol-Myers Squibb, NeuroMed Devices

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