Science and Enterprise

Month: November 2012

  • European Commission Approves Metabolic Disorder Gene Therapy

    The biotechnology company uniQure BV in Amsterdam says the European Commission approved Glybera, its gene therapy for patients with lipoprotein lipase deficiency, a rare metabolic disorder. The approval of Glybera, says uniQure, represents the first gene therapy approved by the European Commission. Lipoprotein lipase deficiency, also called familial hyperchylomicronemia, is an inherited condition that disrupts…

  • Pilot Clinical Trial Indicates Glaucoma Drug Efficacy

    Results from a pilot clinical trial suggests a drug made by Aerie Pharmaceuticals of Bedminister, New Jersey is effective at treating glaucoma. The phase 2a trial tested Aerie’s candidate AR-13324 with 80 patients at 11 locations in the U.S. between March and July 2012. The patients enrolled in the double-blinded trial had open angle glaucoma,…

  • Vertex to Partner with Janssen, GSK on Hepatitis C Drugs

    Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts will collaborate with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on clinical trials of Vertex’s VX-135 treatment candidate for hepatitis C. The trials will test VX-135 in combination with hepatitis C drugs made by Janssen and GSK. Financial details of the agreements were not disclosed.…

  • Wake Forest, NanoMedica to Partner on Sequencing Technology

    Physicists at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and NanoMedica Inc., a biotechnology company also in Winston-Salem, received a Small Business Innovation Research grant to develop a faster process of drug development. The $700,000 grant from National Institutes of Health is supplemented by a $160,000 award from North Carolina Biotech Center to develop the…

  • Pfizer Develops Equine Vaccine from University Research

    The Australian division of Pfizer Animal Health in Brisbane released today a new vaccine to prevent disease from the Hendra virus that can be fatal to horses and humans. Pfizer’s Equivac HeV is the product of research conducted at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and licensed from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation…

  • Earthquake Model Helps Assess Building Vulnerabilities

    Engineers and earth scientists at University of California in Berkeley built a physical earthquake fault model in the lab that can assess the vulnerabilities of buildings and other structures when an earthquake happens. The study reporting on the model, first-authored by Gregory McLaskey now at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, appears in…

  • Diagnostics Company Lands $12 Million Series B Funds

    Advanced Cell Diagnostics Inc., a genomic diagnostics developer in Hayward, California, secured $12 million in series B funding, the second round of venture financing after initial start up. New Leaf Venture Partners that specializes in health care technology investments led the round, joined by existing investor Morningside Ventures. Advanced Cell Diagnostics makes diagnostic tests that…