Month: August 2015
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Sanofi, Google to Partner on Diabetes Care, Devices
31 August 2015. The pharmaceutical company Sanofi is collaborating with Google’s life sciences teams to develop technologies for improving the care of people with diabetes. Financial and intellectual property details of the partnership were not disclosed. Diabetes is a chronic condition where the pancreas does not create enough insulin to process the sugar glucose to flow…
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In-Heart Pacemaker Benefits Shown in Clinical Trial
31 August 2015. First reports from a clinical trial of a heart pacemaker placed inside the heart without wires shows after six months the device maintained effective pacing of patients’ hearts and worked without serious adverse effects in a vast majority of cases. Results of the trial testing the Nanostim device by St. Jude Medical…
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Simple Scaffold Developed for Synthetic Heart Tissue
28 August 2015. Engineers at University of Toronto in Canada designed a biocompatible mesh framework that makes it easier to grow synthetic heart muscle tissue for research and medical use. The team led by chemical engineering professor Milica Radisic published its findings today in the journal Science Advances. Radisic and first author Boyang Zhang are…
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FDA Proposes Guidance, Rule on Biosimilar Naming
28 August 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed new guidance yesterday to provide a common, nonproprietary naming system for generic forms of biologic treatments, known as biosimilars. The agency also proposed a rule applying the system to six biologics and biosimilars already approved, announced with the guidance in a blog post on the…
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Allied-Bristol Licensing Immunotherapy Technology
27 August 2015. Allied-Bristol Life Sciences, a joint venture of science commercialization company Allied Minds and Bristol-Myers Squibb, is licensing a new type of synthetic chemistry technology from Yale University that can stimulate the immune system to treat cancer. Financial details of the licensing agreement were not disclosed. The agreement covers a technology known as…
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Trial Shows Response to Antibody Treating Multiple Myeloma
27 August 2015. An early-stage clinical trial shows some patients receiving an engineered antibody to attack multiple myeloma cancer cells experienced at least a partial remission of their disease. Results of the study, led by oncologist Paul Richardson of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, appeared yesterday in New England Journal of Medicine. Multiple…
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Pharma, Research Group Partner on Meningitis Therapy
26 August 2016. A collaboration between a company developing anti-fungal drugs and research group specializing in fungal infections aims to advance a new type of therapy for cryptococcal meningitis, a life-threatening infection affecting the brain and spinal cord. Financial details of the partnership between Viamet Pharmaceuticals in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium in Birmingham,…
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Injected Gel Designed to Deliver Cancer Therapy
26 August 2015. Biomedical engineers at Harvard University devised a hydrogel material that when infused with tumor and immune-system cells can stimulate a therapeutic immune response in lab mice. The team from Harvard’s Wyss Institute, a biomedical engineering research center, published its findings earlier this month in the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). The…
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Alerts in Health Records Cut Delays in Cancer Diagnosis
25 August 2015. Medical researchers found electronic triggers that alert physicians when test results suggest a potential for cancer, reduce delays for patients needing follow-up care. The team led by Hardeep Singh, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, published its findings yesterday in Journal of Clinical Oncology (paid subscription required). In addition…
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All-Purpose Hand-Held Device Checks for Vital Signs
24 August 2015. Biomedical engineers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore developed a portable device that quickly returns a person’s vital health indicators in an ambulance, at an outpatient clinic, or even at home. Test results of the device, called MouthLab, led by biomedical engineering and of otolaryngology professor Gene Fridman, appear in the September…