Tag: biotechnology
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FDA Grants Experimental Leukemia Drug Orphan Status
16 June 2014. Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated its therapy for acute myelogenous leukemia an orphan drug, qualifying it for tax incentives and other benefits. The orphan drug status comes at the same time of new findings reported from an early clinical trial of the drug,…
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Clinical-Stage Biotech Lands $15M in Early Venture Funding
4 June 2014. Trevi Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company in New Haven, Connecticut developing therapies for chronic itching conditions, secured $15 million in its second venture financing round. The funding, the first installment in a projected $25 million round, was led by current investor TPG Biotech and includes current angel investors in the company. Trevi…
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Epigenetics Biotech Secures $12.9 Million Early Financing
30 May 2014. Rodin Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company in Boston developing therapies based on epigenetics — inherited changes in genetic activity outside of DNA — raised $12.9 million in its first venture funding round. The company is a joint venture of Proteros biostructures GmbH in Munich and Atlas Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Rodin Therapeutics…
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Drug Sensitivity Target Identified for Mesothelioma Therapy
27 May 2014. Researchers at the biopharmaceutical company Verastem Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts found the loss of a certain tumor suppressor improves responsiveness to therapies targeting cancer stem cells that treat mesothelioma, an aggressive form of lung cancer. The team led by Verastem’s research director Jonathan Pachter, with colleagues from Fox Chase Cancer Center in…
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Pfizer, Biotech to Partner on Brown Fat Cell Research
22 May 2014. BioRestorative Therapies Inc. in Jupiter, Florida and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. in New York are conducting a joint study of human brown fat tissue and cell lines, to discover more about their use as a platform for therapies for type 2 diabetes and obesity. Financial and intellectual property aspects of the…
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Engineered Microbes Created to Clean Biodiesel Waste
21 May 2014. Microbiologists at Michigan State University in East Lansing created a process with two types of genetically-engineered bacteria that work together to clean up the waste water in the production of biodiesel, and generate ethanol as a byproduct. The team led by Michigan State’s Gemma Reguera published its findings online earlier this month…
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Patent Awarded for Spinal Disc Regeneration Technology
20 May 2014. Techniques for regrowing new spinal disc cartilage tissue in the body from a person’s own skin cells received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patent number 8,728,495 was awarded today to inventors Lionel Sevrain and Sylvie Sevrain-Verdier and assigned to SpinalCyte LLC in Houston. Sevrain and Sevrain-Verdier are principals…
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Antibody Developer Secures $40M from Foundation Investors
16 May 2014. Kymab Ltd., a developer of human antibodies from mouse genomes, raised $40 million in its second round of venture investment from the Wellcome Trust, an original backer of the company, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Kymab, based in Cambridge, U.K., is also collaborating with the Gates Foundation in research on discovery…
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Heart Disease in Lab Recreated with Stem Cells, Chip Device
12 May 2014. Medical and engineering researchers from Harvard University and affiliated hospitals created heart tissue with a genetic disorder on a chip-like device in the lab using stem cells. The results point to a new method for personalized lab testing of therapies for cardiac patients with cells derived from their own tissue, as well…
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Biopharm, University Partner on Universal Flu Vaccine
8 May 2014. Etubics Corp. in Seattle and University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston are developing a new type of flu vaccine that aims to provide continuous protection against a variety of seasonal virus strains. The five-year project is funded by a $4.4 million grant from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),…