Science and Enterprise

Tag: biotechnology

  • Amgen Purchases Diagnostics Developer deCODE Genetics

    Amgen, a biotechnology company in Thousand Oaks, California, acquired deCODE Genetics, a developer of genetic disease risk assessment tests in Reykjavik, Iceland in an all-cash transaction valued at $415 million. Amgen says the transaction does not require regulatory approval and is expected to close before the end of 2012. deCODE Genetics offers genetic scans for…

  • Genomics Biotech Raises $40 Million in Venture Funds

    Moderna Therapeutics, a biotechnology start-up in Cambridge, Massachusetts developing therapies harnessing messenger RNA, secured some $40 million in venture funding. The financing for this round was led by Flagship Ventures that incubated Moderna Therapeutics, and includes other unamed private investors. The two-year-old company, founded and based on research by scientists at Harvard University and MIT,…

  • U.K. Medical Tech Company Acquires Wound Care Developer

    Smith & Nephew, a medical technology company in London, is purchasing Healthpoint Biotherapeutics, a developer of wound treatments in Fort Worth, Texas. In the transaction, Smith & Nephew will acquire all Healthpoint assets for $782 million in cash, with the deal expected to close next month. Olivier Bohuon, Smith & Nephew’s CEO, says the acquisition…

  • U.S. Patent Awarded for Protein Therapy Delivery Technology

    Medgenics Inc., a biotechnology company in Misgav, Israel and San Francisco, received a U.S. patent for its technology for the sustained delivery of  therapeutic proteins to treat anemia. Patent number 8,293,463 was awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on 23 October 2012 to 11 inventors, including Andrew Pearlman, president of Medgenics Inc., and…

  • Gene Therapy Biotech Secures $37.5 Million in Venture Funds

    Applied Genetic Technologies Corp., a biotechnology company in Gainesville, Florida, gained $37.5 million in series B funds, the second round of financing after initial start-up. Alta Partners and S.R. One Ltd led the financing, with new investor Osage University Partners joining existing investors InterWest, Intersouth Partners, and MedImmune Ventures in the round. Applied Genetic Technologies…

  • Cancer Diagnostics Biotech Lands $13 Million Series B Funds

    Epic Sciences Inc., a biotechnology diagnostics developer in San Diego, secured $13 million in series B financing, the second round of venture funding after initial start-up. The funding round includes new investors Domain Associates, Roche Venture Fund, and Pfizer Venture Investments, as well as undisclosed individual participants. Epic Sciences exclusively licensed research by the lab…

  • Universities, Biotechs to Research Epilepsy Treatments

    A consortium of universities and biotechnology companies in Europe are developing a new strategy for treating epilepsy, a neurological disease affecting 50 million people worldwide. The group called EPIXCHANGE includes researchers from Lund University in Sweden, University of Ferrara in Italy, and the biotech companies Bioviron in France and NsGene in Denmark. Epilepsy covers a…

  • Takeda Pharma to Acquire Envoy Therapeutics

    Takeda Pharmaceuticals, in Osaka, Japan, will acquire the drug discovery company Envoy Therapeutics in Jupiter, Florida for $140 million. Takeda says the merger will mean moving Envoy’s management and scientific staff to Takeda’s San Diego offices after March 2013. Envoy was founded by biophysicist and 2000 Nobel prize winner Paul Greengard, and Rockefeller University colleague…

  • European Commission Approves Metabolic Disorder Gene Therapy

    The biotechnology company uniQure BV in Amsterdam says the European Commission approved Glybera, its gene therapy for patients with lipoprotein lipase deficiency, a rare metabolic disorder. The approval of Glybera, says uniQure, represents the first gene therapy approved by the European Commission. Lipoprotein lipase deficiency, also called familial hyperchylomicronemia, is an inherited condition that disrupts…

  • Pilot Clinical Trial Indicates Glaucoma Drug Efficacy

    Results from a pilot clinical trial suggests a drug made by Aerie Pharmaceuticals of Bedminister, New Jersey is effective at treating glaucoma. The phase 2a trial tested Aerie’s candidate AR-13324 with 80 patients at 11 locations in the U.S. between March and July 2012. The patients enrolled in the double-blinded trial had open angle glaucoma,…