A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Elan appeal on EU Tysabri licence fails
European drug regulators have again turned down attempts by Elan and its US partner, Biogen, to have their Tysabri drug licensed as a treatment for Crohn's disease in the European Union.
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use rejected an appeal by the companies to overturn a previous decision against the use of Tysabri for Crohn's.
The decision by the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency still has to go to the European Commission, but it customarily follows recommendations from the committee.
UK house prices 'will fail to rise'
UK house prices will fail to rise for the first time in more than a decade next year, as higher interest rates and slowing economic growth curb demand for property, Nationwide Building Society said yesterday.
Average prices will be unchanged in 2008, compared with the most recent annual increase of 9.7 per cent, the mortgage lender said in a release. - (Bloomberg)
Aminex starts Tanzanian project
Dublin- and London-listed exploration company Aminex said it has started drilling on the Kiliwani-1 well on its Nyunu/East Songo-Songo licence off the coast of Tanzania.
Aminex has a 39 per cent interest in the well, which is being operated by its subsidiary, Ndovu Resources.
O2 offers fixed-cost access to Bebo
Mobile operator O2 Ireland has teamed up with Bebo to provide customers with access to the popular social networking website for a fixed weekly cost.
O2 customers will pay €1.50 a week for unlimited access to a version of the Bebo website that has been optimised for mobile phones. The only additional charge is uploading pictures via MMS messages, which will cost 25 cent per message.
New chief at Wilson Hartnell
Wilson Hartnell Public Relations has appointed Brian Bell as managing director from the start of 2008. Mr Bell, who succeeds Roddy Guiney in the position, will also join the board of parent group Ogilvy.
PR executive joins board of UCC
Public relations executive and businesswoman Mary Hopkins is joining the governing body of University College Cork , following her nomination by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.
Nooked chief is net visionary
Fergus Burns, chief executive of Sligo-based software company Nooked, has been named the overall Net Visionary 2007 by the Irish Internet Association.
An internet veteran who previously worked with Propylon and Microsoft, Mr Burns is developing a next-generation electronic commerce platform.
Income soars at Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com, which pioneered offering software as a service over the internet, has announced third-quarter revenues of $193 million (€131.5 million) and net income of $6.5 million, up 74 per cent on its previous quarter.
Salesforce.com has its European corporate sales headquarters in Dublin.
Accountants greet US ruling
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland has welcomed the decision by the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week to scrap a requirement that US-listed foreign companies must reconcile their financial statements to US accounting standards.
