Tag: biotechnology
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Regeneron, Bayer Collaborating on Eye Disorder Drug
24 March 2016. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and drug-maker Bayer AG are developing a combination of biologic drugs to treat the eye disorders wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. The agreement — the third such deal between the companies — is expected to bring Regeneron as much as $130 million if all milestones are met.…
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New Biotech Begins Work on Enhanced Platinum Cancer Drugs
23 March 2016. A new biotechnology company began work today on developing improved platinum-based treatments for solid tumor cancers. The company, Placon Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a spin-off enterprise from Tarveda Therapeutics, a developer of biologic cancer drugs. Placon Therapeutics focuses on new treatments for cancer using platinum as a cancer-killing agent that works…
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Nanoparticles Shown to Target Tumors, Avoid Adjacent Cells
22 March 2016. A small-scale clinical trial shows cancer drugs formulated into nanoparticles accumulate in solid tumors in humans, while avoiding adjacent healthy tissue. The team from California Institute of Technology in Pasadena published its findings yesterday (21 March) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The CalTech team, led by chemical engineering…
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Implant Developed to Deliver Alzheimer’s Immunotherapy
18 March 2016. A neuroscience team from Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, or EPFL, in Switzerland designed and implanted a capsule that in lab mice generates antibodies to reduce amyloid beta plaque accumulations in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the lab of Patrick Aebischer, also EPFL’s president, published its findings in the…
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Allied-Bristol Licenses NYU Research, Starts New Company
17 March 2016. Allied-Bristol Life Sciences, a joint venture of Allied Minds and Bristol-Myers Squibb, is licensing research from New York University on signaling pathways affecting growth of tumors, for a new company begun under its tutelage. Financial aspects of the deal between Allied-Bristol and NYU were not disclosed. The new enterprise, known as iBeCa…
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Clinical Trial Advances Dengue Vaccine Candidate
17 March 2016. A small-scale clinical trial testing an experimental vaccine with people given live dengue viruses shows the vaccine is effective in preventing dengue infections. The team from Johns Hopkins University and University of Vermont published its findings in yesterday’s (16 March) issue of Science Translational Medicine; paid subscription required. The vaccine, developed by…
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Technique Speeds, Eases Bone Marrow Stem Cell Collection
16 March 2016. A lab in Australia developed a process that makes it easier and faster to harvest blood-forming stem cells for treating diseases such as leukemia. The team led by Susan Nilsson at Monash University in Clayton, Victoria published its findings in yesterday’s (15 March) issue of the journal Nature Communications. Transplants of hematopoietic…
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Roche Licensing Biotech Immunotherapies in $1B Deal
15 March 2016. The biotechnology company Blueprint Medicines, a developer of cancer treatments based on a patient’s precise genomic make-up, is partnering with the pharmaceutical company Roche on cancer immunotherapies. The agreement gives Roche options to license up to 5 small-molecule, or low molecular-weight therapies, in a deal that could bring Blueprint more than $1…
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Injected Drug Forms Anti-Cancer Nanoparticles in Tumors
15 March 2016. Medical researchers developed a drug delivery technique that in lab mice forms anti-cancer nanoparticles inside metastatic tumors, promising much more potent cancer treatments. The team led by Mauro Ferrari and Haifa Shen at Houston Methodist Research Institute in Texas published its findings in yesterday’s (14 March) issue of Nature Biotechnology; paid subscription…
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FDA Gives Initial Clearance for Engineered Mosquitoes
11 March 2016. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a preliminary report that self-limiting engineered mosquitoes will have no significant environmental impacts on the Florida Keys, where they plan to be tested. The report agrees with an environmental assessment by Oxitec Ltd., developer of the engineered mosquitoes, that the agency is releasing for public…