Month: April 2015
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Cancer Biotech Raising $147 Million in IPO
30 April 2015. Blueprint Medicines, a developer of cancer therapies that block enzymes supporting tumor growth, is raising some $146.7 million in its initial public stock offering. The Cambridge, Massachusetts enterprise, listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol BPMC, issued 8.15 million shares at $18.00. The company began trading today with its share price…
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Phone Add-On Designed to Image DNA Molecules
30 April 2015. A bioengineering lab at University of California in Los Angeles is developing a smartphone attachment that can image and measure the length of DNA molecules. The team led by engineering professor Aydogan Ozcan is scheduled to describe the system on 14 May at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics sponsored by the…
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Taking a break
16 April 2015. We will be traveling for the next two weeks, to recharge our batteries and see some of the world beyond beyond science and business. Regular posting will resume on 30 April. * * *
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Plant Science Biotech Gets Genome Editing Technology
16 April 2015. Cellectis Plant Sciences, a biotechnology company in Minnesota developing higher quality crops through genetic engineering, licensed CRISPR genome editing technology from University of Minnesota. Financial details of the agreement between Cellectis and the university were not disclosed. The technology licensed by Cellectis covers techniques known as CRISPR, short for clustered, regularly interspaced short…
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Aduro Biotech Raises $108 million in IPO
15 April 2015. Aduro Biotech Inc., a developer of immunotherapies to treat cancer, issued its initial public stock offering today that expects to net the company some $108 million, after issuing 7 million shares priced at $17.00. The Berkeley, California enterprise trades on the Nasdaq exchange under symbol ADRO. As of the Nasdaq closing bell…
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Trial Shows Multiple Sclerosis Drug Improves Optic Nerves
15 April 2015. A clinical trial testing a new therapy for multiple sclerosis shows the drug improves the performance of optic nerves in patients with acute optic neuritis, a condition highly associated with multiple sclerosis. Researchers from the biotechnology company Biogen present their findings next week at the annual meeting of American Academy of Neurology…
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Smart Treadmill Adjusts to Running Speed Changes
14 April 2015. Researchers at Ohio State University designed an automated treadmill that adjusts to changes in running speed by users, thus making the experience more like running outdoors. Steven Devor, professor of kinesiology, with former graduate student Cory Scheadler (now on the faculty at Northern Kentucky University), describe tests of a prototype model of…
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Trial Testing App to Manage Diabetes, Foot Ulcers
14 April 2015. A clinical trial is getting under way testing a smartphone app to help people with diabetes manage their condition, and in particular assess chronic foot ulcers associated with diabetes. The application is the work of an information technology and biomedical engineering team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, that described the system…
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Gene Therapy Biotech Raises $60M in Venture Funds
13 April 2015. Voyager Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing gene therapies for central nervous system disorders, raised $60 million in its second venture financing round. Financing for the 1 year-old enterprise in Cambridge, Massachusetts was led by new investors Brookside Capital and Partner Fund Management, with participation by Wellington Management Company and Casdin Capital, also…
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Janssen Licensing DNA Technology for Hep B Vaccine
13 April 2015. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson, is licensing an electronic DNA drug delivery technology from Ichor Medical Systems for vaccines to treat hepatitis B. Ichor, based in San Diego, expects to gain as much as $85 million in the deal. Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by a virus…