Paying $55 million, Cephalon Inc. bought back the interest of two unaffiliated investors in a joint venture formed in December to put as much as $50 million into U.S. commercial efforts on behalf of Provigil for sleep disorders and Gabitril for epilepsy. (BioWorld Today)

You might not expect onlookers to be especially sanguine about competitors against erythropoietin king Amgen Inc., which continues to reap revenues galore from its blood-boosting blockbuster drug. Last week, though, two companies with EPO ambitions made news. (BioWorld Financial Watch)

A powerful vote of confidence in Gryphon Sciences Inc.’s chemically synthesized proteins came in the form of a deal worth up to $155 million with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. for a red blood cell booster that the latter will develop for chemotherapy and hemodialysis patients. (BioWorld Today)

With cancer, heart disease, AIDS, hepatitis C and inflammatory devils such as rheumatoid arthritis tormenting the world populace, hardly anybody's losing sleep over insomnia. But most of those afflicted with the condition would pay dearly for a drug that would help them get shut-eye. About 85 million people in the U.S. suffer from sleep disorders, and the pharmaceutical information company IMS Health says the market in this country for prescription sleep products is almost $1 billion annually, and growing at a rate of about 30 percent per year. (BioWorld Financial Watch)