Month: January 2011

  • Illinois Start Up Licenses Anti-Staph Infection Research

    Start up company ImmuVen in Champaign, Illinois agreed to license new technology and processes for treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. ImmuVen was founded by the technology’s inventors, microbiologists David Kranz of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Patrick Schlievert of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. MRSA is a…

  • Standards Proposed for Prescription Drug Labels

    The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), a standards–setting body for prescription and over–the–counter medicines, has prepared a set of standards to guide the content, language, format, and appearance of prescription medication labels in the U.S. The draft standards are open for a 90-day public comment period. USP says the standards, now in draft, reflect how patients…

  • Collaboration Targets New Circulating Tumor Cell Technology

    Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston and Veridex LLC, a biotechnology subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson  in Raritan, New Jersey said today they plan to develop and commercialize a technology for capturing, counting, and characterizing tumor cells found in patients’ blood. These circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that have detached from…

  • FDA Clears Stem Cell Trial for Macular Degeneration

    Advanced Cell Technology Inc. (ACT), a biotechnology company in Marlborough, Massachusetts, said today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its application to test-treat dry age-related macular degeneration using human embryonic stem cells.  Dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness among Americans who are age…

  • IPOs, Mergers for Venture-Funded Companies Gain in 2010

    The number and value of exit deals — where enterprises backed by venture capital (VC) become financially self-sustaining — increased sharply in 2010, compared to 2009.  The compilation by Dow Jones VentureSource shows 514 exit deals took place in 2010 a 25 percent increase, with those deals netting $39.3 billion, a jump of 72 percent…