Category: New products
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Medical Device Company Opening California Lab, Training Center
Integra LifeSciences of Plainsboro, New Jersey announced the opening of its Center for Research, Education and Training in Irvine, California. The new facility will offer hands-on simulated surgical training, as well as a laboratory for research and development for Integra’s products. The center will hold its first session for spine surgeons on 21 September 2010.…
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FDA Grants Orphan Status for Neuromuscular Drug
Acceleron Pharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, today said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted ACE-031, its treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), with an orphan drug designation. DMD is a debilitating and fatal genetic disorder characterized by the progressive loss of muscle strength and function. The disease affects mainly boys…
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University Licenses Research for Deer Repellents
University of Minnesota Duluth agronomist and horticulturist Tom Levar has developed a way to protect plants from browsing by deer and mice with a natural hot pepper concentrate delivered to the roots of young plants, making them inedible. Repellex USA, a maker of pest repellents in Niles, Michigan has now licensed the technology. Levar developed…
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Montana State Licensing Biomedical Technologies
Researchers at Montana State University in Bozeman have developed six new biomedical technologies available for licensing to interested companies and entrepreneurs. – An existing clinical drug discovered to act as a potent trigger of immune cells, but also shows promise in enhancing the effectiveness of vaccines, particularly those administered to the lungs. – An extract…
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Biofuels Plant Produces First Cellulosic Methanol
A Range Fuels Inc. plant in Soperton, Georgia — the company’s first commercial biofuels plant — has produced its first cellulosic methanol, using non-food biomass as the feedstock. The first phase of the plant’s operations uses Range Fuels’ two-step thermo-chemical process, which combines heat, pressure, and steam to convert non-food feedstocks, such as woody biomass…
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Battery Developer to Power NASA Lunar Robot
Boston-Power Inc., in Westborough, Massachusetts, a developer lithium-ion batteries, says its battery systems have been selected to be part of NASA’s Project M, a project to land a working humanoid robot on the moon in 1,000 days. The company’s batteries will be part of the pack providing power for the robot, known as Robonaut 2…
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FDA Fast-Tracks Treatment for Hepatitis C Infection
Pharmasset Inc., in Princeton, New Jersey, received a fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its drug PSI-7977, developed for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. PSI-7977 is an oral nucleotide analog inhibitor of HCV. Pharmasset recently completed dosing in a Phase 2a trial to evaluate PSI-7977 in…
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Robots to Help Children With Autism
Interbots Inc., a spin-off company associated with the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has joined with the Autism Center of Pittsburgh to provide robot-based therapy for children with autism. The program will use a robot to test the ability of children with autism with limited or no verbal skills. Interbot’s Popchilla…
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Outcome Sciences to Study Effectiveness of Glaucoma Treatments
The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has selected Outcome Sciences Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to conduct a study to compare the effectiveness of medications versus surgery for the treatment of open-angle glaucoma. The study will enroll 2,600 patients from 30 sites across the United States, which aims to provide new scientific information about…
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New iPhone App Tracks Side Effects in Clinical Trials
The Center for Biomedical Informatics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia converted all the reference information in the National Cancer Institute’s Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) into a software application, or “app”, for the Apple iPhone. With this iPhone app, physicians can replace the 200-page CTCAE manual, with a four-ounce iPhone or iPod…