Month: January 2016
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Allergan, AstraZeneca Partner on Drug-Resistant Bacteria
29 January 2016. Pharmaceutical companies Allergan and AstraZeneca are developing a new treatment for infections caused by a type of bacteria already resistant to antibiotics. Financial aspects of the collaboration between the enterprises were not disclosed. The agreement calls for the two companies to develop and commercialize ATM-AVI, a new drug that treats infections from…
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FDA Approves Nasal Spray Migraine Therapy
29 January 2016. The Food and Drug Administration approved a treatment for migraine headaches delivered as a powder sprayed into the nose. The therapy, marketed as Onzetra by Avanir Pharmaceuticals, is a formulation of sumatriptan, an approved oral drug for treating migraine symptoms. Migraine is a neurological syndrome causing severe headaches along with nausea, vomiting, and…
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Electronic Patch Shown to Help Relieve PTSD, Depression
28 January 2016. An electronic device stimulating nerves in the brain was shown in a small clinical study to relieve symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and depression. The team developing the patch and taking it to market published results of the study in today’s (28 January) issue of the journal Neuromodulation: Technology…
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$100K Challenge Seeks Reinvented Clinical Trials
28 January 2016. A challenge at Harvard Business School seeks proposals for better ways of conducting clinical trials that bring to market faster new precision diagnostics and therapies. The competition has a total prize purse of $100,000 and an initial deadline of 13 March 2016. Precision medicine is the term given to emerging practices bringing…
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Eye Disease Gene Defect Repaired with CRISPR
27 January 2016. Gene editing techniques repaired a defective gene in stem cells from an individual with retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited eye disease. The team from Columbia University and University of Iowa reported its findings in today’s (27 January) issue of Scientific Reports. Retinitis pigmentosa is a family of genetic eye disorders that result in damage…
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Purdue Licenses Food Pathogen Fingerprint Technology
26 January 2016. A lab equipment company is licensing a laser-based technology developed at Purdue University that quickly identifies foodborne pathogens. Financial aspects of the agreement between Purdue, in West Lafayette, Indiana and Andreas Hettich GmbH in Tuttlingen, Germany were not disclosed. Hettich is acquiring the rights to Bacteria Rapid Detection using Optical Scattering Technology,…
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Material Hides Beta Cell Transplants From Immune Reaction
26 January 2016. Engineering and biochemical researchers developed a material that in lab animals holds and protects transplanted pancreatic beta cells against an immune reaction, a key advance in treatments for individuals with type 1 diabetes. Teams from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other institutions published their findings about the material in the 25 January…
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Business-Academic Coop to Fund Translational Research
25 January 2016. Three pharmaceutical companies and three universities in the U.K. are forming an independent consortium to support academic research leading to new therapies. The £40 million ($US 57 million) Apollo Therapeutics Fund will be financed by contributions from global pharmaceutical enterprises AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, and Johnson & Johnson, for work in research labs at…
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Safety, Activity Assessed in New Duchenne Drug
25 January 2016. An early-stage clinical shows an experimental drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is safe for patients and produces the desired chemical activity in the body. Results of the trial, conducted by Catabasis Pharmaceuticals were released today. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company says it is now extending the study to test the drug against a…
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Technique Devised to Improve Stem Cell Harvesting
22 January 2016. Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin developed a technique making it easier to detect stem cells and keep active longer in a cell culture. The team from the lab of molecular biologist Zsuzsanna Izsvák published its results in the 21 January issue of the journal Nature Protocols.…