Month: February 2015
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Adult Stem Cell Quality Control Methods Devised
27 February 2015. A European research team developed a process for testing the safety and quality of adult stem cells before being used in gene therapy treatments on patients. The team led by stem cell scientist Yann Barrandon at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne published its findings today in the journal EMBO…
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Registry to Track Psoriasis Drug Safety
26 February 2015. A new registry of patients with psoriasis will track the safety of a recently approved biologic drug designed to treat that disorder. The Corrona Psoriasis Registry is a joint undertaking of National Psoriasis Foundation and Corrona LLC, a company in Southborough, Massachusetts hosting registries of patients with chronic diseases. Psoriasis is an…
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Illumina Adds $40M for Genomic Accelerator Start-Ups
26 February 2015. Illumina Inc., a developer of genomic analysis systems, is adding $40 million for investments in new enterprises based on genomic science that graduate from its accelerator program. The additional financing is provided by Viking Global Investors, an equity and hedge fund investment company in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Illumina Accelerator program provides promising…
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Patent Issued for Mobile Pulse Oximetry Technology
25 February 2015. LionsGate Technologies Inc., a medical device company in Vancouver, Canada, received a patent for techniques and processes that connect sensors measuring blood oxygen levels to smartphones and tablets. Patent number 8,958,859 was issued by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on 17 February 2015 to inventors Mark Ansermino, LionsGate’s chief medical officer, and…
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Paper Strip Test Developed for Ebola, Other Diseases
25 February 2015. Biological and engineering researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed a simple device that can test in the field for several viral diseases at once, including Ebola. The team from the labs of microbiologist Lee Gehrke and engineering professor Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli described the device earlier this month in the journal Lab on a…
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System Personalizes Cancer Nanomedicine Treatments
24 February 2015. Medical and engineering researchers at University of California in Los Angeles designed a system that generates a personalized combination of drugs, including medicines with nanodiamonds, to treat metastatic cancer. The team led by Dean Ho from UCLA’s dentistry school and Chih-Ming Ho, a professor of mechanical engineering, published its findings last week…
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Bristol-Myers Squibb Acquires Biotech Cancer Therapies
24 February 2015. Bristol-Myers Squibb is purchasing biotechnology company Flexus Biosciences Inc., gaining many of that company’s cancer therapies in a deal valued as much as $1.25 billion to Flexus’s shareholders. The deal allows Flexus Biosciences shareholders to spin-off a new enterprise to develop the remaining drug programs, including treatments for cancer. The acquisition gives…
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New Medical Device Surveillance System Proposed
23 February 2015. A report today by a Washington, D.C. think tank proposes a new system for tracking medical devices after going on the market, to better serve patients and encourage innovation in the field. A conference at Brookings Institution that published the report highlighted many of the benefits, but also difficulties the proposed system…
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Challenge Seeks Extended Release Intravenous Drug Delivery
20 February 2015. A new challenge on InnoCentive is seeking ways to administer high-dose drugs through intravenous delivery, but releasing the therapy in the patient for a period of 8 to 10 hours. The competition has a purse of $30,000 and deadline of 21 March 2015. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowdsourcing competitions for…
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FDA Allows 23andMe to Resume Genetic Health Tests
20 February 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the personal genetics company 23andMe to begin marketing genetic tests for carrying the gene causing Bloom syndrome, a serious inherited disorder. FDA also yesterday began classifying gene-carrier screening tests as class-2 medical devices requiring a limited degree of regulation, and exempting the tests from pre-market…