CPRB and City Spar Over Redacted Documents

The Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB) and the city will be back in court in August to make oral arguments as to why the heavily redacted documents given to the CPRB by the city do or do not meet a judge’s order to hand over materials needed to investigate police officers' actions during the G20 summit in September. At a contempt of court hearing today, CPRB lawyer Ward McGough argued that so much information was lined through that the documents are unusable. Paul Krepps, the attorney for the city, says if the information was not redacted the city could be in violation of privacy laws. The city also argued that releasing the data could in some cases jeopardize future operations. Along with arrest, incident, summons, subject resistance, and investigative reports, the board asked for operational documents such as the manual given to visiting officers and the insurance policy taken out by the city to cover the time around the G20. CPRB Executive Director Elizabeth Pittinger says because the information in the documents has been "blacked out" the board is unable to do its job. Pittinger notes that in other cases being investigated by the CPRB the city has handed over the documents without any redaction. The judge has given the city and the CPRB until August 26th to prepare for oral arguments. Between now and then there are several deadlines including a date to submit written arguments.

It has also been learned that the Pittsburgh City Council and the Mayor are submitting new names to fill the Citizen Police Review Board. The council and the mayor choose the seven-member board. All of the current members of the board are serving under expired terms. Some of them have been serving in that capacity for two years according to Pittinger. When asked to react to the submission of seven new names Pittinger said, “I think you would have to look upon it as a retaliatory act.”

Pittsburgh Mayoral spokesperson Joanna Doven says the approval of the board nominees on the same day as the court hearing was coincidental and in no way a retaliation. Doven says the 4 names from the council were submitted to the mayor 58 days ago and he had 60 days to review them and sign off on the nominations. Doven was also quick to point out that of the three nominations made by the mayor two are current CPRB members.

Bail Denied, Veon Sent to Prison

Former Pennsylvania House Democratic Whip Mike Veon will spend six to fourteen years in state prison for conducting campaign work with public resources.
Judge Richard Lewis told Veon his “thirst for more power and prestige…caused him to ignore the very laws and regulations he had a hand in creating.”
Lewis said “Hard earned tax dollars were essentially prostituted for political ambition” in the tax-funded bonuses for campaign work scheme.
Veon did not testify during his winter trial, but he made a statement during the sentencing hearing.
He acknowledged making mistakes, and said he apologized.
Veon said he was proud of what he accomplished as a lawmaker, saying “I had an unusual, incredible work ethic.”
Prosecutor Marc Costanzo says even though Veon didn’t come up with the illegal bonus idea, he led the illegal effort.

"It was clearly, based on the testimony of (Michael) Manzo and (Scott) Brubaker – it was their idea. But their good idea would have gone nowhere without Veon being told about it, OKing it, and allowing them to effectuate it. And he monitored it all along."

Lewis denied bail for Veon while he appeals. The onetime legislative leader was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom at the end of the hearing.

Canadian Tire takes a grand stand in support of the Honda Indy Edmonton

EDMONTON, AB – The 2010 Honda Indy Edmonton has added yet another major sponsor for this year’s event. “Our newest Gold Sponsor is Canadian Tire, a company that’s been flourishing across our country for 88 years. One of the grandstands at the track will now be known as the Canadian Tire grandstand,” said Northlands President Ken Knowles. “Canadian Tire has, for many years, been involved in auto racing in Canada to varying degrees, and we’re very pleased to have them on board as a sponsor.”

Knowles went on to say that “Canadian Tire’s made it abundantly clear that they have every intention of returning to prominence with race fans across Canada. Automotive is the cornerstone of their business, and they strongly believe that anything less than great customer service is unacceptable. We couldn’t be happier having Canadian Tire aboard.”

Returning as the official vehicle rental supplier for the Honda Indy Edmonton is DRIVING FORCE.

"DRIVING FORCE is pleased to be involved in this event for the fifth year running.  We've been supporting Indy since the very first race was held in Edmonton in 2005, and we’re happy to continue supporting this world class event,” said Claudette Kirdeikis, marketing director for DRIVING FORCE Vehicle Rentals, Sales and Leasing.

Tickets for the 2010 Honda Indy Edmonton are on sale online at www.hondaindyedmonton.com or at www.ticketmaster.ca, or by calling Ticketmaster at 780-451-8000.

About the Honda Indy Edmonton: The Honda Indy Edmonton is the 11th round in the 17 race IZOD IndyCar Series. Auto Racing fans across North America get to see the best in open-wheel racing in Edmonton when the Honda Indy Edmonton takes to the track July 23-25.

About Northlands:  Northlands attracts and produces the biggest and best live entertainment and events Edmonton has ever seen. In fact, it’s what we do best. Nobody treats Edmonton to bigger sporting events, world-class entertainment and more spectacular celebrations. Our more than 2,500 events attract more than four million visitors to Edmonton every year while generating $1 billion in economic activity in Alberta. We reinvest our earnings back into the community and work hard to deliver the best in world-class entertainment that our guests have come to expect from us. We take great pride helping build our city and making Edmonton a great place to live and play. Visit www.northlands.com to find out more.

From Honda Indy Edmonton

This week's GOP numbers

There's a lot more support from home state Republicans for a Bobby Jindal 2012 run in Louisiana than we found for Jim DeMint in South Carolina a couple weeks ago.

48% of Republican primary voters in Louisiana would like to see Jindal make a bid for the White House, while only 24% in South Carolina expressed the same sentiment when it came to their home state Senator the last time we surveyed there. When included in the field of possible GOP candidates along with Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney Jindal pulls 44% in Louisiana compared to just a 21% showing for DeMint on a similar South Carolina poll. Having strong home state backing isn't a requirement for running for President but it certainly says something about your ability to resonate with voters and Jindal's doing pretty well on that front.

Taking Jindal out of the mix this week's round of GOP 2012 polling in Illinois and Louisiana is most positive for Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee. Huckabee is tied for the lead in both states, at 24% with Gingrich in Louisiana and at 25% with Romney in Illinois. In addition to tying for the lead in Louisiana Gingrich also finishes just 2 points out of first place in Illinois.

Romney fares well in Illinois but finishes a distant 4th in Louisiana. Palin finishes just a point ahead in Louisiana but finishes a distant 4th in Illinois. The bottom line, as we have found repeatedly, is that these candidates are closely bunched together and there's no favorite. And that could allow someone like Jindal to rise from the pack.

Full results here

Historical Commission Wants More Info on Arena Plans

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has sent a letter to the City-County Sports and Exhibition Authority questioning the speed of the razing of the Mellon Arena. The facility officially goes dark in August when the Penguins move their offices into the Consol Energy Center. At that time, using tax dollars, the SEA would be responsible for utilities, maintenance and insurance costs. A consultant told the SEA board that would be about $78,000 to $100,000 a month depending on whether the plan is to demolish the arena or keep it ready for possible re-use.
In her letter to the SEA, Historical Commission Director Jean Cutler said they want to make sure they've received all crucial information to fully understand the process and the effects on historic resources (the arena). The SEA sent a study it commissioned that supports the Penguins plans to demolish the arena and develop the 28 acre site. Two preservation groups have commissioned their own study on keeping the arena.

Veon Gets 6 to 14 Years in Prison

Former Pennsylvania House Democratic Whip Mike Veon was sentenced today for his March conviction on 14 counts of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest in connection with the use of tax dollars for employees doing campaign work on state time. Dauphin County Judge Richard Lewis sentenced Veon to 6 to 14 years in prison, fined him $37,000 and ordered him to pay $100,000 in restitution. The prosecution had asked for a 12 to 17 year prison term.
Prior to his sentencing, Veon told the judge "I made mistakes, I apologize."
Judge Lewis denied his request to be free on bond while he appeals.

Earlier today, Judge Lewis sentenced Veon's former aide, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink to 3 to 6 months in jail followed by 3 months house arrest and 45 months probation. Perretta-Rosepink, who ran the district office of former Beaver County State Representative Mike Veon, was fined $8,000 and ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution. The judge said she clearly broke the law , but he didn't believe she was a central figure in the scheme to use public resources for campaign work.

Deals of the Week Goes Hollywood

It's not every day that a biopharma company swaps dreams of developing a blockbuster for dreams of developing a different sort of blockbuster (GSK's documentary dreams notwithstanding) but today ImaRx Therapeutics is doing just that. The erstwhile vascular therapeutics play was trading about 99% off its IPO price last we checked in -- investors had seemingly given up on blockbusters of the first variety.

Well, say goodbye to ImaRx, now just a shell of a company anyway. Say hello to Sycamore Films.

Sadly it's unfortunately not very uncommon for a biotech to meet its demise, especially in today's environment. But it did get us thinking. If the biopharmaceutical industry were a movie, what would it be? (C'mon people, it's Friday.) The first one that springs to mind for this blogger is Risky Business. (Of course the medical devices world needs its own movie too: this bit of Medtronic news has us thinking about the end of Se7en ... "what's in the box??!?!")

Your suggestions in the comments, pls. Meanwhile, not so long ago in a conference room not so far away . . .

Gen-Probe/Pacific Biosciences: Molecular diagnostics provider Gen-Probe, one of the original developers of nucleic-acid-based diagnostic test platforms, is getting into the sequencing game, via a $50 million investment in privately held Pacific Biosciences, part of the sequencing company’s Series F. The companies will also co-develop systems based on PacBio’s single-molecule sequencing technology aimed at the clinical diagnostics market. They will work exclusively with each other for two-and-a-half years on the program. Several other companies including IBM, Illumina, Life Technologies, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, and newcomer Ion Torrent are developing real-time, single-molecule sequencing technologies, with some geared towards eventually being able to look at the entire human genome. The move by Gen-Probe appears to be part of a strategy gaining favor with life science tools providers to provide an integrated sequencing offering including sample prep, sequence measurement, assays, and perhaps even bioinformatics in one package. Expectations are that technical validation of these systems will come in the next five years, and with sequencing costs rapidly decreasing – one start-up recently suggested the capability for whole-genome sequencing at under $100 around year-end – the clinical diagnostics market appears to be within reach for these companies. --Mark Ratner

Tranzyme/Norgine: In seeking a European development and commercialization partner for ulimorelin, a ghrelin agonist about to enter Phase III in gastrointestinal dysmotility disorders such as post-operative ileus, Tranzyme Pharma thinks it found the perfect fit. Tranzyme’s June 16 tie-up with Netherlands-based Norgine BV includes only $8 million up-front. But more importantly to the North Carolina biotech, the deal leaves it with North American rights to its lead program, while Norgine obtains rights in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and Africa. In addition to Norgine’s focus on gastrointestinal disorders, CEO Vipin Garg said one of the factors he likes best about the partnership is the regional nature of the deal and in particular that Norgine is “pan-European” rather than specializing in its home market or just a few countries. “A lot of companies want worldwide rights nowadays for products [or] just US or North American rights," told “The Pink Sheet” DAILY. “In our case, we wanted to retain those rights for ourselves and perhaps partner them later or even have the ability to build a small sales force” to sell the drug to hospital-based docs. Beyond the upfront payment, Tranzyme also is eligible to earn up to $150 million in development, approval and commercial milestones; Garg would not break down the biobucks specifically other than to say that the first milestone would be realized upon completion of the first Phase III trial.—Joseph Haas

Bayer/OncoMed: OncoMed Pharmaceuticals pulled in an eyebrow-raising $154 million Series B round in 2008, but investors apparently aren't the only ones that think the company is on to something. The cancer stem cell-focused biotech has signed its second major pharmaceutical collaboration – the only two significant deals in the space to date. The Redwood City, Calif., firm received $40 million upfront June 17 from Bayer Schering Pharma to co-discover and co-develop five agents that target the Wnt cancer stem cell pathway. The new partnership follows a 2007 deal with GlaxoSmithKline in which privately held OncoMed received an undisclosed upfront payment and equity investment in exchange for option rights to four monoclonal antibodies targeting the Notch cancer stem cell pathway. With potential discovery, development, regulatory and sales milestones, the deal with GSK was valued at up to $1.4 billion. The Bayer/OncoMed tie-up is similarly risk-adjusted: for starters, the German pharma gets an option to license development and commercial rights to antibody and protein therapeutics developed under the collaboration up through completion of Phase I. OncoMed can receive up to $397.5 million in milestones for each antibody or protein therapeutic developed and commercialized successfully, along with double-digit sales royalties. OncoMed will also assist Bayer in developing small molecule cancer therapies that target the Wnt pathway, which could earn it up to $112 million per successful candidate.--JAH

Neurocrine/Abbott: Less than a month after Neurocrine Biosciences said it was seeking a partner to advance into Phase III its novel gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist, elagolix, it sealed a deal with Abbott. Abbott agreed to pay $75 million upfront to develop and globally commercialize elagolix for the treatment of endometriosis-related pain, and undertake Phase II studies for the treatment of uterine fibroids. Neurocrine, a bit of a comeback tale since losing lead asset indiplon a few years ago, also could earn up to $500 million in milestones, mainly tied to pre-commercial achievements, and will receive undisclosed sales royalties. In addition to endometriosis and uterine fibroids, Neurocrine believes elagolix could be used to treat prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia, since the drug lowers testosterone levels in men. Though Neurocrine had been in talks with several potential partners, Abbott's experience with the GnRH mechanism made it an ideal fit, President and Chief Executive Kevin Gorman told “The Pink Sheet” DAILY. Abbott sells Lupron (leuprolide), an injectable GnRH agonist, which is one of two approved therapies for endometriosis. Leuprolide also is indicated to treat prostate cancer, which Gorman said adds value to the deal since elagolix is in preclinical studies for this use.--Carlene Olsen

Neurocrine/Boehringer Ingelheim: Sequels aren't usually as good as the original and this is frankly no exception. But Neurocrine's second deal this week, announced less than a day after its deal with Abbott, is nothing to sniff at either. Neurocrine on Thursday inked a pact with Boehringer Ingelheim to discover and develop small molecule GPR119 agonists to treat type-2 diabetes and other indications. Neurocrine gets $10 million up-front plus research funding and is elgible for development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments and royalties on any products BI develops from the collaboration. GPR119 is a GPCR thought to play a variety of roles in inducing insulin secretion; BI has made no secret of its desire to become a player in diabetes, though it hasn't done many deals. --CM

Covidien/Somanetics: Call it the Covidien Creep. Just as the medical device company moved slowly into the vascular and neurovascular business with the successive acquisitions of Bacchus Vascular, VNUS Technologies and this month's $2.6 billion acquisition of ev3 Inc., Covidien now is building its oximetry and monitoring products with its second sizable acquisition in less than a year with the purchase of publicly traded Somanetics Inc. Covidien agreed to pay $250 million, or $25 per share, for the company, seller of the INVOS System, which measures blood oxygen levels in the brain of surgical patients so clinicians can detect and correct a variety of threatening complications. The technology pairs nicely with the Bispectral Index, the only system capable of measuring the effects of anesthesia and sedatives on the brain. Covidien added the Bispectral to its oximetry and monitoring group last year by acquiring Aspect Medical Systems Inc. for $210 million. The combined revenues from Aspect and Somanetics will add $150 million in annual revenue to the Oximetry and Monitoring group, which reported $636 million in revenue in each of the last two fiscal years. Even with the additional revenue, oximetry and monitoring will likely be the fourth largest in Covidien’s medical device unit but that could change with future acquisitions.--Tom Salemi

Basilea/Almirall: Switzerland's Basilea Pharmaceutia has signed on Spain's Almirall to be the exclusive distributor of Basilea's eczema treatment Toctino (alitretinoin) in 10 European markets and Mexico. Now Basilea can benefit from broader sales of Toctino without making costly investments to build its own commercial infrastructure in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain. At the same time, Almirall, a top 10 dermatology country in Europe, gains a novel therapy for its portfolio – Toctino is the only therapy approved for adults with severe chronic hand eczema unresponsive to potent topical corticosteroids. Almirall will make an upfront payment of €5 million, and Basilea also could receive milestone payments related to the launch of Toctino in two key markets of up to €11 million, plus €11 million more in pre-specified sales milestones. Basilea also retains the right to co-promote Toctino in selected markets. Though Basilea would not disclose its transfer price for Toctino, Merrill Lynch analysts estimate that the biotech will receive 44 percent to 55 percent of the product's revenues generated in Almirall's distribution markets. Toctino's fortunes are especially important for Basilea given the high-profile failure and break-up with Johnson & Johnson over its next likely commercial candidate, the anti-infective drug ceftobiprole. Since then, the biotech has made aggressive moves to regain its footing, including a licensing deal with Astellas Pharma earlier this year. --CO

image from flickr user emma.kate used under a creative commons license