Science and Enterprise

Month: September 2010

  • Small Business Grant Given for Cancer Drug Delivery System

    Celsion Corp., a biotechnology drug development company in Columbia, Maryland, has received a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health. This funding will help the company develop its heat-activated liposomal — encapsulated cellular membrane sac — technology in combination with carboplatin, a frequently used oncology drug for…

  • Prof Creates High-Value Chemicals from Biomass

    An Iowa State University researcher in Ames, Iowa has discovered a method for producing chemicals such as ethylene glycol and propylene glycol from biomass rather than petroleum. Both chemicals are used in a variety of commercial and industrial products. Walter Trahanovsky, an Iowa State professor of chemistry was looking to produce sugar derivatives from cellulose…

  • European Approval Sought for Daily HIV Treatment

    Gilead Sciences Inc. of Foster City, California is seeking approval to market a combination of its Truvada drug with Tibotec Pharmaceuticals’ TMC278 as a single-dose daily treatment for HIV infection. If approved, the new single-tablet regimen would be only the second product that contains a complete antiretroviral treatment regimen in a single once-daily tablet, according…

  • Treasury Dept: Commercial Credit Standards Tightening

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), an agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, reports today that its annual survey of banks’ credit underwriting standards — guidelines for issuing loans —  found that commercial credit standards remained tight for the 12-month period ending on 31 March 2010. Credit standards for small…

  • Platelet Transfusion System Trial Shows Favorable Results

    Cerus Corporation in Concord, California says a multi-year trial of its INTERCEPT-treated platelet components conducted at the Red Cross Blood Center in Basel, Switzerland had a successful outcome. The INTERCEPT Blood System is a treatment designed to protect against transfusion-transmitted diseases. The open label study — where patients and researchers know which drug is being…

  • Small Businesses To Benefit This Year from Health Care Act

    A new report from the Commonwealth Fund in New York, N.Y. says that small businesses will be eligible for tax credits under the 2010 health care reform bill (Affordable Care Act or ACA) beginning in 2010. The credits are designed to offset health insurance premium costs and help small businesses afford and maintain health insurance…

  • Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council to Hold First Meeting (Updated)

    Xconomy is reporting that the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship will hold its first meeting today in Washington, DC. The group, formed in July, will advise the executive branch on new policies “that foster entrepreneurship and identifying new ways to take great ideas from the lab to the marketplace to drive economic growth…

  • New iPhone / Smartphone Theme Installed

    We installed a new plug-in that formats our site with a mobile theme for the Apple iPhone / iPod Touch, Google Android, Blackberry Storm and Torch, Palm Pre and other touch-based smartphones. It offers a better visual presentation, as well as Twitter, e-mail, and social network integration that was missing before. If you can’t get…

  • Contract Awarded for Acute Radiation Therapy

    Cellerant Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company in San Carlos, California, received a five-year contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), in the Department of Health and Human Services to develop CLT-008, the company’s cellular therapy for the treatment of acute radiation syndrome. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says acute radiation…

  • Making Corn-based Plastics More Heat Tolerant

    Petroleum is not only the main source of transportation fuel but also a key raw material in making plastics. A team from Lapol LLC, of Santa Barbara, California and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of USDA are working on a solution to make corn-based plastics a better alternative than plastics made from oil. An important…