Tag: biotechnology
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AstraZeneca Begins Four Gene-Editing Collaborations
29 January 2015. The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is taking part in collaborations with research institutes and a company in the U.S. and U.K. to discover new drug targets based on an emerging genome-editing technology. Financial and intellectual property details of the partnerships with Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Innovative Genomics Initiative, Broad Institute and Whitehead Institute,…
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Stem Cells Shown Effective with Autism in Lab
26 January 2015. The biotechnology company BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. reports that tests in laboratory mice show its stem cell technology derived from bone marrow is effective in reducing behaviors associated with autism. The study was conducted by Daniel Offen, a neuroscientist at Tel Aviv University in Israel, but no peer-reviewed publication was cited by…
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Cancer Therapy Spin-Off Formed with $45M Funding
22 January 2015. Autolus Ltd., a new enterprise developing engineered immune-system cells for treating cancer, is being formed in London, with £30 million ($45.4 million) in early financing. The company is founded and commercializing research by Martin Pule, a hematologist at University College London. Pule, who serves as Autolus’s chief scientist, studies T-cells, white blood…
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FDA Approves Novartis Psoriasis Drug
21 January 2015. U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the biologic drug secukinumab for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, a common skin disorder. Secukinumab, an antibody designed specifically to address the condition, is marketed by the pharmaceutical company Novartis under the brand name Cosentyx. Plaque psoriasis is the most common type of psoriasis, an…
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Zymeworks, Celgene to Develop Double-Binding Antibodies
21 January 2015. Zymeworks Inc., a biotechnology company in Vancouver, Canada and pharmaceutical maker Celgene Inc. are developing biologic therapies using Zymeworks’ antibody technology. The deal makes Zymeworks eligible for up to $164 million from Celgene for each candidate developed under the partnership, as well as an unspecified initial payment and equity investment. Under the…
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University Spin-Off Develops Bone Repair Technology
20 January 2015. A materials science research center and university spin-off company in Ireland are developing a technology using natural materials to repair bones in people and animals. The bone-repair technology is a product of Ireland’s Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (Amber) center at Trinity College in Dublin and SurgaColl Technologies in Cork, a spin-off…
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Trial Testing Gene Therapy for Rare Eye Disorder
20 January 2015. An early-stage clinical trial is underway testing a gene-repair therapy for choroideremia, a rare progressive genetic eye disorder that leads to blindness. The trial, conducted at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia began enrolling its first patients, according to Spark Therapeutics, also of Philadelphia, the biotechnology company leading the study. Choroideremia is associated with…
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Neuropore, UCB Partner on Parkinson’s Drugs
16 January 2015. UCB, a biopharmaceutical company in Brussels, is licensing an experimental drug to treat Parkinson’s disease developed by Neuropore Therapies Inc., a biotechnology company in San Diego. The agreement gives UCB a worldwide license for the compound and is expected to pay Neuropore as much as $480 million. Parkinson’s disease occurs when the brain…
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Trial Testing RNA Therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Update: 15 January 2015. Comments on the article are offered at the end of the main text. 14 January 2015. A clinical trial is underway testing safety and effectiveness of synthetic RNA treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease affecting primarily males. The treatments are developed by Sarepta Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company in…
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Biotech Licenses Cell Research for Ebola Treatments
8 January 2015. H&P Labs, a biotechnology company in Montreal, is licensing research on cell proteins at a lab affliated with Harvard University to develop into treatments for Ebola. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. The current Ebola outbreak in Africa that began in March 2014 totals 20,747 cases resulting in 8,235 deaths,…