Tag: biotechnology
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Biogen Idec, Samsung to Form $300M Biosimilar Venture
Biogen Idec, a biotechnology company in Weston, Massachusetts, and the Korean conglomerate Samsung will form a joint venture to develop and market follow-on biologic drugs known as biosimilars. Investments by both companies in the venture will total $300 million. Samsung will contribute $255 million of the $300 million for an 85 percent stake in the…
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UC San Francisco, GE to Partner on Cord Blood Research
University of California at San Francisco and and GE Healthcare are collaborating on an R&D project to help overcome the lack of blood-forming stem cells available to patients suffering from several life-threatening diseases. The three-year, $841,000 project aims to make better use of umbilical cord blood gathered at the birth of a baby, which is…
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Trial Shows Safety of Engineered Gene Therapy
In an early-stage clinical trial, researchers at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill have demonstrated the safety of creating a genetically-engineered virus to treat a form of muscular dystrophy. The findings of pharmacologist Jude Samulski (pictured left) and colleagues are reported online in the journal Molecular Therapy; paid subscription required. With gene therapy, a…
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Biotech, Energy Company Partner on Renewable Fuel, Chemicals
The synthetic biology company Amyris Inc. in Emeryville, California and the French oil and gas company Total have agreed to collaborate on research and production of renewable fuels and chemicals. The agreement expands on an existing R&D relationship between the two companies. Amyris and Total agreed to accelerate the pace of their current partnership to…
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Fox Foundation to Fund Parkinson’s Drug Candidate Studies
Civitas Therapeutics Inc., a pharmaceutical company in Chelsea, Massachusetts, received a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to support the company’s lead drug candidate CVT-301. The amount of the grant to fund clinical development of the drug was not disclosed. Parkinson’s disease occurs when the nerve cells in the brain…
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Commentary: Manufacturing the Health Care Venture Crisis
Rahm Emanuel, the current mayor Chicago and former chief of staff to President Obama, once famously said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has gone Emanuel one better, using highly selected bits and pieces from an industry survey to predict an imminent retreat by investors…
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Gilead Sciences to Acquire Biotech Pharmasset for $11B
Pharmaceutical maker Gilead Sciences in Foster City, California says it will acquire the biotechnology company Pharmasset Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey, with the transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2012. In the deal, Gilead will pay $137 per share, for a total value of about $11 billion. Pharmasset is a clinical-stage company…
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Scripps, Biotech to Partner on Feline Virus Research
CytoDyn Inc., a biotechnology company in Lutz, Florida, has agreed to support research by Spripps Research Institute scientist John Elder on the company’s treatment for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Elder is a professor in Scripps’s Department of Immunology and Microbial Science in La Jolla, California. Under the agreement CytoDyn’s subsidiary, CytoDyn Veterinary Medicine LLC will…
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Treatment for Rare Bone Marrow Disease Gains FDA Approval
The Food and Drug Administration today approved the drug ruxolitinib, to treat the bone marrow disease myelofibrosis, for marketing in the U.S. Ruxolitinib is marketed under the brand name Jakafi by Incyte Corporation, a biotechnology company in Wilmington, Delaware. Jakafi is a pill taken two times a day to inhibit enzymes called Janus Associated Kinase…
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Biotech Start-Up Lands $15M Series A Round
Allena Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts, a biotechnology start-up company, says it has secured $15 million in Series A venture capital financing, the first round of funding after seed capital. The company was founded by Alexey Margolin and Robert Gallotto, former executives at Alnara Pharmaceuticals that was acquired by Eli Lilly and company in July…