Science and Enterprise

Tag: biotechnology

  • Trial of Insulin-Coated Gold Nanoparticles Approved

    Midatech Ltd. in Oxford, U.K. says it has received approval from regulatory authorities in Switzerland for a clinical trial of the company’s insulin-coated gold nanoparticles. The company says it is the first test in humans of therapies based on solid nanoparticles. Midatech says the trial will test the safety of insulin-coated gold nanoparticles when applied…

  • Geron Halts Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Clinical Trial

    Geron Corporation, a biotechnology company in Menlo Park, California, says it has discontinued its development of therapies based on human embryonic stem cells to focus on cancer drugs. The immediate results of its decision are to end a clinical trial of its stem cell drug on patients with spinal cord injuries — the first clinical…

  • GSK to Fund Canadian Life Sciences Start-Ups, Institutes

    The global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (GSK) announced in Toronto a new $50 million fund for early stage life sciences research in Canada. GSK says the Canada Life Sciences Innovation Fund will identify investment opportunities at Canada’s academic and health institutions, translational research centers, and start-up companies. Paul Lucas, president of GlaxoSmithKline Canada, calls the…

  • University Spin-Off Lands Radiation Countermeasure Contract

    RxBio Inc., an early stage biotech company spun off from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis, has received a contract from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for the company’s radiation countermeasure drug. The contract has a potential value of $24 million over the next two years. The contract, with a…

  • Depression Drug Fails in First Phase 3 Trial

    A drug candidate designed to treat major depressive disorder has not met its success targets in the first round of phase 3 clinical trials. The drug, TC-5214 (S-mecamylamine), is made by global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Targacept Inc., biotechnology company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The clinical trial tested TC-5214 as a therapy for major depressive…

  • ACADIA, Meiji Seika Advance Schizophrenia Drug to Trials

    ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company in San Diego, says its drug AM-831 developed with Meiji Seika Pharma Co. Ltd. in Japan to treat schizophrenia has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to begin phase 1 clinical trials. The clinical study will test the drug’s safety, tolerability, and interaction with the body. AM-831 was…

  • Diagnostics Company Lands $20 Million Investment Round

    NanoString Technologies Inc., a Seattle-based privately held developer of medical science diagnostic tools, says it has closed a $20 million equity deal to finance the company’s continued growth. The series D round — the company’s fourth funding cycle after start-up — includes the first investment by GE’s healthymagination Fund. NanoString Technologies makes molecular diagnostic equipment…

  • U.S. Biotech Licenses Hong Kong University Flu Research

    Alios BioPharma in South San Francisco and University of Hong Kong agreed to a licensing agreement for the university’s research findings that target influenza viruses. The agreement, officially with the university’s technology transfer company, will be used to advance the company’s R&D and commercialization of medicines to treat influenza infection. The company also agreed to…

  • Q3 Venture Investments Rise in China, Decline in Europe

    Venture capital (VC) investments, according to Dow Jones VentureSource, moved in opposite directions in China and Europe during the third quarter of 2011. Dow Jones VentureSource is a database of investments from 67,000 venture-backed companies in North America, Europe, Israel, China, and India. In the third quarter, investors put $1.3 billion into 89 deals for…

  • Company, Institute Partner on Cancer Drug Candidate Catalog

    Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and Reaction Biology Corporation in Malvern, Pennsylvania have compiled an index of 178 candidate drugs capable of blocking the activity of one or more of 300 enzymes, including enzymes involved with cancer. Their findings appear online in the journal Nature Biotechnology, and are also scheduled for publication…