Category: Finance
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Gene Editing Licensed for Inherited Disease Treatments
26 October 2015. A Boston biotechnology company is licensing gene-editing technologies from a nearby start-up to design treatments for cystic fibrosis and inherited blood disorders, including sickle cell disease. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, in Boston, received rights to techniques known as CRISPR-Cas9 in a deal that could bring CRISPR Therapeutics, founded in April 2014, as much as…
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Gates Grant Funding Whooping Cough Antibody Test
21 October 2015. A protein engineering lab at University of Texas in Austin is evaluating the potential of an engineered antibody to prevent pertussis, also known as whooping cough, among newborn infants. The study and lab are led by chemical engineering professor Jennifer Maynard, who is testing the antibody under a $400,000 grant from the…
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Immunotherapy Start-Up Gains $102M in Venture Funds
20 October 2015. A new enterprise founded by researchers in the U.S. and Europe that aims to provide personalized cancer therapies harnessing the immune system raised $102 million in its first round of venture financing. The company Gritstone Oncology — in San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts — says it plans to focus initially on developing…
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Chip Device in Development to Simulate Human Gut
9 October 2015. A team of medical researchers and engineers in North Carolina is developing a miniaturized device derived from human stem cells to better simulate the workings of a human gut. The five-year project is funded by $5.3 million grant from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of National Institutes…
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Harvard Spin-Off Commercializing Sepsis Treatment
9 October 2015. A new enterprise spun-off from Harvard University is developing a device for treating sepsis, a life-threatening infection often contracted in hospitals. The company, Opsonix Inc. in Boston, also raised $8 million in its first round of venture funding. Opsonix is licensing a technology for treating sepsis developed in Harvard’s Wyss Institute for…
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MD Anderson, Biotech Form Antibody Discovery Company
7 October 2015. MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is partnering with the biotechnology company Theraclone Sciences to form a new enterprise devoted to discovering antibodies for cancer therapies harnessing the immune system. The company named OncoResponse, also based in Houston, attracted $9.5 million in its first venture funding round. OncoResponse plans to adapt Theraclone’s…
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Breakout Labs Adds Four Science-Based Start-Ups
6 October 2015. Breakout Labs, an incubator of new enterprises based on discoveries from academic science labs, is adding four more companies to its portfolio. The new additions include companies developing advanced materials and sensors to measure food freshness, as well as discovering new therapies for diseases associated with the aging process. Breakout Labs is…
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Influenza A Therapy Shown Working in Trial
5 October 2015. A clinical trial testing a synthetic antibody designed to treat influenza A shows the treatment is effective in reducing the spread of flu viruses in humans. Visterra Inc., the therapy’s designer, also received a contract valued as much as $204.5 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to further…
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RNA Therapy Biotech Earns $44 Million in IPO
1 October 2015. A biotechnology company developing therapies based on RNA, genetic material that sends signals to cells, raised $43.75 million in its initial public stock offering. Mirna Therapeutics Inc. in Austin, Texas issued 6.25 million shares today at $7.00, and trades on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol MIRN. Its shares closed today at…
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Nanotech Cancer Center Gains $10.1M Funding
1 October 2015. Cornell University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are developing cancer diagnostics and therapies with nanoscale particles, funded largely by a National Cancer Institute grant. NCI, part of National Institutes of Health, is providing $8.2 million to the institutions over five years, while Sloan Kettering is adding $1.9 million. Cornell and Sloan…