Tag: pharmaceuticals
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Multiple Myeloma Gene Therapy Trial Underway
19 February 2016. The biotechnology company bluebird bio began testing its experimental gene therapy for multiple myeloma in an early-stage clinical trial. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company — which spells its name in all lower-case letters — is also licensing the technology tested in the trial to the pharmaceutical company Celgene. Multiple myeloma is a cancer of…
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Antibody Treatment Designed for MERS Virus
18 February 2016. The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS virus, is spreading throughout the Middle East and Asia, largely through person-to-person contacts, and with a fatality rate of 36 percent. A research team at University of Maryland, with colleagues from industry and government labs, developed antibodies from genetically-engineered cattle that protect lab mice…
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Vaccine Developed to Stop Synthetic Opioids
17 February 2016. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid drug for treating severe pain after surgery, and in some cases chronic pain, but is also highly addictive and increasingly abused, with growing numbers of overdose deaths. Researchers from Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California developed a vaccine that in lab mice prevents ingredients in fentanyl…
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Biotech Reviewing Stanford Immuno-Stem Cell Technology
16 February 2016. A biotechnology company in Los Angeles is evaluating a technology developed at Stanford University for transferring DNA of immune system cells to a patient’s own stem cells to produce immunotherapies for treating cancer. The agreement with Stanford gives ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Ltd. an option to license the technology from the lab of immunologist…
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$45M Raised by Protein Folding Drug Discovery Company
10 February 2016. A company discovering new treatments that address errant folding of proteins causing neurological disorders raised $45 million in its first venture funding round. Yumanity Therapeutics, a spin-off enterprise from the Whitehead Institute affiliated with MIT, started in December 2014 and aims to discover therapies for neurodegenerative diseases caused by misfolded proteins. Yumanity…
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Start-Up Licensing Wayne State Neurological Discoveries
8 February 2016. Wayne State University is licensing research discoveries from its pharmacy school to a new enterprise for development as drugs to treat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, and other neurological disorders. Financial aspects of the agreement with Trimaran Pharma Inc. were not disclosed. The deal covers research by pharmaceutical sciences professor Aloke…
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FDA Assessing Opioid Regulatory Reviews, Labeling
4 February 2016. U.S. Food and Drug Administration is evaluating its practices on reviewing applications for new opioid pain drugs and their labeling requirements, in light of the expanding epidemic of abuse and overdose. An action plan with these steps was released today, although funding for new initiatives was not discussed. Opioids work by reducing the…
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Genome-Editing Company Raises $94 Million in IPO
3 February 2016. Editas Medicine, developer of treatments for disease that harness editing of the human genome, is raising $94.4 million in its initial public stock offering. The company, trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol EDIT, issued 5.9 million shares priced at $16.00. As of 12 noon on 3 February, the stock is…
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Many FDA Advisory Speakers Found with Industry Funding
2 February 2016. A review of an FDA advisory committee on cancer drugs finds nearly one-third of speakers at its meetings receive financial support from companies making the drugs under review. The analysis by Vinay Prasad at Oregon Health and Science University and Matthew Abola, a medical student at Case Western Reserve University, is reported…
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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…