Month: November 2011
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Diagnostics Developer Secures $100M Series C Financing
Biocartis, a diagnostic systems company in Lausanne, Switzerland says it completed raising €71 million (US$100 million) in series C equity funds, led by the company’s senior management and backed by current and new investors, as well as industrial collaborators. Series C financing is the third round of equity funding after start-up. Biocartis develops compact molecular…
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Scripps, Biotech to Partner on Feline Virus Research
CytoDyn Inc., a biotechnology company in Lutz, Florida, has agreed to support research by Spripps Research Institute scientist John Elder on the company’s treatment for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Elder is a professor in Scripps’s Department of Immunology and Microbial Science in La Jolla, California. Under the agreement CytoDyn’s subsidiary, CytoDyn Veterinary Medicine LLC will…
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Treatment for Rare Bone Marrow Disease Gains FDA Approval
The Food and Drug Administration today approved the drug ruxolitinib, to treat the bone marrow disease myelofibrosis, for marketing in the U.S. Ruxolitinib is marketed under the brand name Jakafi by Incyte Corporation, a biotechnology company in Wilmington, Delaware. Jakafi is a pill taken two times a day to inhibit enzymes called Janus Associated Kinase…
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Dried Blood Test Developed, Spin-Off Company Formed
Researchers at King’s College London have developed a process to screen patients for genetic and acquired clinical conditions from a single dried blood spot. The college also started today a spin-off diagnostics company providing services using this method. The test, developed by a team from King’s College and clinician collaborators from King’s Health Partners Academic…
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FDA Approves Touch-Screen Insulin Pump System
Tandem Diabetes Care Inc. in San Diego says the Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company’s insulin pump system for marketing in the U.S. The t:slim Insulin Delivery System, as it’s called, is one of the first insulin pumps to be cleared under the FDA’s new Infusion Pump Improvement Initiative, according to the company.…
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Biotech Start-Up Lands $15M Series A Round
Allena Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts, a biotechnology start-up company, says it has secured $15 million in Series A venture capital financing, the first round of funding after seed capital. The company was founded by Alexey Margolin and Robert Gallotto, former executives at Alnara Pharmaceuticals that was acquired by Eli Lilly and company in July…
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Airport Runway De-Icing System Developed with Solar Panels
Engineering researchers at University of Arkansas in Fayetteville are developing an anti-icing system that could make airport runways safer and less expensive to maintain during winter months. The team led by civil engineering professor Ernie Heymsfield are now testing components of the system at the university’s Engineering Research Center in south Fayetteville. The approach uses…
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Intel Corp. to Fund 3D Computer Processing Unit Development
Computer engineers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh are developing a three-dimensional central processing unit (CPU) that aims to increase energy efficiency by 15 percent. The project, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Intel Corporation, is led by Paul Franzon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State. A 3D…
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Trial of Insulin-Coated Gold Nanoparticles Approved
Midatech Ltd. in Oxford, U.K. says it has received approval from regulatory authorities in Switzerland for a clinical trial of the company’s insulin-coated gold nanoparticles. The company says it is the first test in humans of therapies based on solid nanoparticles. Midatech says the trial will test the safety of insulin-coated gold nanoparticles when applied…
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Geron Halts Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Clinical Trial
Geron Corporation, a biotechnology company in Menlo Park, California, says it has discontinued its development of therapies based on human embryonic stem cells to focus on cancer drugs. The immediate results of its decision are to end a clinical trial of its stem cell drug on patients with spinal cord injuries — the first clinical…