Tag: pharmaceuticals
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Alzheimer’s Drug Granted Orphan Status for Fragile X
9 April 2015. A new treatment in development for Alzheimer’s disease was designated an orphan drug for Fragile X syndrome, an inherited neurological disorder, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Neurotrope BioScience Inc. in Newark, New Jersey, received the designation for its drug bryostatin, now in clinical testing to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Fragile X…
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Uninsured Patients Paying Far More for Cancer Drugs
8 April 2015. An analysis of cancer drug costs and reimbursement practices shows people without health insurance are paying much more for chemotherapy drugs than people covered under private insurance or Medicare. The team led by pharmacy professor Stacie Dusetzina at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill published its findings in the April issue…
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Collaboration Collecting Data to ID Precise Cancer Meds
7 April 2015. A partnership between Caris Life Sciences and COTA, short for Cancer Outcomes Tracking and Analysis, is combining data on the chemical makeup of cancer patients with clinical outcomes information to create better profiles of cancer tumors and identify more personalized therapies. Financial details between Caris Life Sciences in Irving, Texas and COTA,…
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Bristol-Myers Squibb Licensing Gene Therapies in $2.3B Deal
6 April 2015. Drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb is licensing gene therapies from biotechnology company uniQure N.V. in a deal with a total potential value of $2.3 billion, including an equity stake in uniQure. The agreement gives Bristol-Myers Squibb exclusive access to as many as 10 disease programs being developed by uniQure, including a treatment for…
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Astellas Getting First Access to Leukemia Antibody
3 April 2015. MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is granting Astellas Pharma Inc. in Tokyo an option to license MD Anderson’s discovery of a synthetic antibody showing promise as a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. For the licensing option, MD Anderson could earn up to $26 million in fees and research funding. Acute myeloid…
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$150 Million Raised for NYC Life Science Start-Ups
1 April 2015. A consortium of public and private funding sources raised $150 million to invest in new life science companies located in New York City. The Early Stage Life Sciences Funding Initiative exceeded its original $100 million goal by half, and seeks to start 15 to 20 new businesses in New York by 2020,…
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Novartis, Aduro Biotech Partner on Cancer Immunotherapy
30 March 2015. The pharmaceutical company Novartis is licensing cancer immunotherapy technology from Aduro Biotech in Berkeley, California. The collaboration could earn Aduro as much as $750 million, including an equity stake, for access to its work on cyclic dinucleotides, still in preclinical study, but considered promising as a cancer treatment. Cyclic dinucleotides are naturally…
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Intermediate Trial Shows Ebola Vaccines Safe
27 March 2015. An intermediate-stage clinical trial in Liberia testing two new vaccines to prevent Ebola infections, shows the vaccines appear to be safe, allowing for larger-scale assessments. Initial results of the trial were reported yesterday by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of National Institutes of Health. The 2014-15 Ebola virus…
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Sharp Rise in Livestock Antimicrobial Use Expected
26 March 2015. An international research consortium estimates that global use of antibiotics in livestock is expected to jump by two-thirds by the year 2030, imperiling attempts to overcome antibiotic resistance and posing a threat to public health. The team led by Princeton University environmental researcher Ramanan Laxminarayan published its findings last week in Proceedings…
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FDA Approves Inhalational Anthrax Treatment
25 March 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a treatment for inhalational anthrax, a rare but dangerous respiratory condition that can result from a bioterrorist attack. The drug is marketed as Anthrasil by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Anthrax is caused by Bacillus anthracis, bacteria found naturally in soil and commonly…