Tag: pharmaceuticals
-
Cancer Specialists Offer Plan to Reduce Drug Prices
23 July 2015. A group of 118 cancer specialists proposed steps to reduce the cost of drugs to cancer patients, calling the current system of drug pricing “unsustainable and not affordable for many patients.” Their recommendations appear today in a commentary published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Pharmaceutical industry representatives, however, say drugs play…
-
Trial Shows Engineered T-Cells Act on Multiple Myeloma
21 July 2015. An early-stage clinical trial shows immune system cells from patients with the blood-related cancer multiple myeloma — modified to attack a protein suspected of helping the cancer grow — generated a positive clinical response in most of the participants. The team from University of Pennsylvania cancer center, University of Maryland medical school,…
-
Early Test Shows Alzheimer’s Candidate Lowers Brain Deposits
20 July 2015. A drug developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease reduced a large percentage of accumulated harmful peptides and proteins in brains of laboratory mice induced with the disorder. Results of the tests were reported today by the biotechnology company Treventis Corp. in Philadelphia, developer of the drug code-named TRV-101. Alzheimer’s disease is progressive neurodegenerative…
-
Drug Delivery Biotech Raises $101.8 Million in IPO
17 July 2015. Chiasma Inc., a biotechnology enterprise developing oral therapies to replace injected drugs, raised some $101.8 million in its initial public stock offering. The company — located in Newton, Massachusetts and Jerusalem, Israel — issued 6,365,000 shares at $16.00, and trades on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol CHMA. Shares in the company closed…
-
Magnetic Nanoparticles Found to Boost Immunotherapy
15 July 2015. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University designed a process for making immunotherapy more practical as a cancer treatment by collecting cancer-fighting T-cells faster and easier with magnetic synthetic antigen nanoparticles. The team from the lab of Jonathan Schneck, professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University medical center in Baltimore, published results of lab…
-
Bristol-Myers Squibb, S.C. Med School Partner on Fibrosis
15 July 2015. Medical University of South Carolina and pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb are collaborating on drug discovery research to better understand the science behind fibrosis diseases, leading to new treatments. Financial and intellectual property aspects of the partnership were not disclosed. Fibrosis is the growth of excess tissue that occurs in response to injury…
-
Trial Testing Respiratory Muscle Drug for ALS Patients
14 July 2015. Biopharmaceutical company Cytokinetics is beginning a late-stage clinical trial of a drug designed to slow the decline of respiratory muscle functions in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a neurodegenerative disorder. In addition, Cytokinetics, in South San Francisco, California, received a $1.5 million grant from the ALS Association supporting the trial,…
-
FDA Clears Biotech Cancer Therapies for Early Trials
13 July 2015. Biotechnology company Blueprint Medicines says U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted new drug applications on its two lead products, clearing the way for trials with humans. The Cambridge, Massachusetts enterprise is developing cancer therapies, with its lead products targeting liver and gastrointestinal tumors. Blueprint develops cancer therapies that limit the actions of…
-
Univ. of Arizona Spin-Off Licenses Cancer Therapy
10 July 2015. A new company spun-off from University of Arizona licensed a cancer therapy based on research by a pharmacy faculty member at the school, also the company’s founder. Synactix Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Tucson is founded by pharmacology professor Hong-yu Li and postdoctoral fellow Brendan Fett. Li’s lab at Arizona studies cancer therapeutics, particularly…
-
Oxford, Ludwig Institute Launch Immunotherapy Start-Up
9 July 2015. University of Oxford in the U.K. and Ludwig Cancer Research Institute are forming a spin-off enterprise to commercialize research by an Oxford immunology professor for cancer therapies. Financial details of the partnership to create iOx Therapeutics were not disclosed. The new company is commercializing research from the lab of Oxford immunologist Vincenzo…