Month: May 2015
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Trial Testing 3-Drug Combo for Drug Resistant TB
14 May 2015. A new clinical trial is underway in South Africa testing a regimen of three drugs to treat extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, a form of the disease that does not respond to normal or even back-up treatments. The trial is sponsored by Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, or TB Alliance, an international consortium…
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Mayo Clinic, Baylor to Study Genomes for Drug Safety
13 May 2015. Mayo Clinic and Baylor College of Medicine are beginning a study of 10,000 human genomes to reveal drug safety problems and highlight where drugs may not work for some people. Financial aspects of the collaboration, involving Mayo Clinic’s Biobank and Baylor’s Human Genome Sequencing Center, were not disclosed. The research aims to…
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Biotech, Research Institute Partner on Gene Therapies
13 May 2015. A collaboration between a U.S. biotechnology company and French research institute is enhancing current techniques to allow patients with rare diseases to receive multiple doses of gene therapies. Selecta Biosciences in Watertown, Masachusetts and Généthon in Evry, France plan to co-develop and co-own the results of their partnership, but financial details of…
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RNA Therapies Developer Spins-Off Rare Disease Venture
12 May 2015. Moderna Therapeutics, a developer of RNA-based treatments, is starting a new company to design therapies with its technology to address rare diseases. Financial details of the spin-off company Elpidera LLC, the third such venture launched by Moderna, were not disclosed. Moderna, a biotechnology enterprise in Cambridge, Massachusetts, develops medications that use genetic…
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Gene Editing Harnessed to ID Cancer Targets
12 May 2015. Researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York developed a technique that reveals targets for leukemia drugs with an emerging gene editing technology. A team from the lab of geneticist Christopher Vakoc published its findings yesterday in the journal Nature Biotechnology (paid subscription required). Vakoc and colleagues study proteins regulating chromatin,…
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Trial Underway Testing Sleep Apnea Stimulation Device
11 May 2015. A clinical trial testing an experimental neurostimulation device to treat obstructive sleep apnea implanted the device in its first two test patients. The trial is sponsored by ImThera Medical Inc. in San Diego, the developer of the aura6000 device being tested. Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder where muscles in the throat…
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GSK, UNC Chapel Hill Partner on HIV/AIDS Cure
11 May 2015. Pharmaceutical maker GlaxoSmithKline and University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill are establishing a joint research center and spin-off company to develop new treatments for HIV and AIDS. GSK says it plans to invest $20 million over 5 years for a new HIV Cure Center on the Chapel Hill campus to conduct…
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NASA Challenge Seeks Elements for Human Presence on Mars
8 May 2015. NASA is asking the public for ideas on ways to establish a long-term presence of Mars in a new challenge offered by InnoCentive. The competition has a total purse of $15,000 and a deadline for submissions of 6 July 2015. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowdsourcing competitions for corporate and organization…
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Clinical Trial Testing West Nile Vaccine
7 May 2015. A vaccine for West Nile virus, a seasonal infection spread by mosquitoes, is being tested for safety in an early stage clinical trial. The vaccine, code-named HydroVax-001, is being developed in the lab of microbiologist Mark Slifka at Oregon Health and Science University in Beaverton and commercialized by Najit Technologies Inc., a…
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Standard Devised to Cut Poultry Antibiotic Use
7 May 2015. An organization of school districts in the U.S., joined by the Pew Charitable Trusts and U.S. Department of Agriculture, wrote a set of guidelines to reduce the use of antibiotics in raising chickens destined for school feeding programs. Tyson Foods, the nation’s largest producer of chickens, also revealed today it is adopting…