Science and Enterprise

Tag: biotechnology

  • Venture Firm Raises $440 Million for Life Sciences

    Sofinnova Ventures, a venture capital (VC) company in Menlo Park, California says it has completed raising funds for its next round of investments in life sciences companies. The fund, Sofinnova Venture Partners VIII, has collected or has commitments totaling $440 million. Sofinnova says it plans to invest the funds primarily in later stage health care…

  • University, Industry Team Demonstrates Robotic Biologist

    Researchers from two universities and a research company have demonstrated an automated system that can analyze raw experimental biological data and derive the mathematical equations that describe the way the system operates. The team from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and CFD Research Corp. in Huntsville, Alabama published their results…

  • NIH Awards Infectious Disease Therapy Contracts

    The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded contracts totaling $37.5 million to five companies to develop therapies for diseases caused by multiple types of bacteria or viruses. The five-year orders, with a potential total value of $150 million, cover research to extend promising drug candidates…

  • Complete Genomes Sequenced of Embryonic Stem Cell Lines

    Researchers from industry, research institutes, and universities in the U.S. and Korea have conducted a complete genomic sequence analysis of five human embryonic stem cell lines. Their findings appear online in the journal Stem Cell Research (paid subscription required). The authors describe a systematic application of current molecular technologies to provide a detailed understanding of…

  • Roche to License University DNA Sequencing Technology

    The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has agreed to license DNA sequencing technology developed at Arizona State and Columbia universities to help build a new type of DNA sequencing system. One goal of the system will be to quickly decode a person’s complete genome for less than $1,000. The licensed technologies are based on research conducted…

  • Angel Early Stage Investments Gain in First Half of 2011

    Angel investments in very early stage U.S. entrepreneurial companies rose in the first half of 2011 according to a new report from the Center for Venture Research (CVR) at University of New Hampshire. Science-based enterprises, says CVR, accounted for over half of the total dollars invested by angels in that period. Angel investors are individuals…

  • Survey: VCs Pulling Back from Biopharma, Devices Companies

    A survey of venture capital (VC) companies investing in health care enterprises says they have shifted funding away from businesses that develop drugs and medical devices toward less regulated services and information technology firms. The survey, conducted by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) from July to September 2011, covers 156 of its members with…

  • Spanish Institute Spin-Off to Develop Cancer Diagnostics

    A new company spun off from the Institute of Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain (IRB Barcelona), will develop a diagnostic kit and treatments for breast cancer metastasis. Supragen is founded and commercializes research by Roger Gomis (pictured right), group leader of IRB Barcelona’s Growth Control and Cancer Metastasis lab. The lab investigates growth factors,…

  • U.S. Biotech Gets Approval for Stem Cell Trial in Europe

    Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Marlborough, Massachusetts has received clearance from authorities in the U.K. to begin treating patients with compounds derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) as part of a clinical trial. The approval from the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency involves a test of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) from hESCs…

  • University Spin-Off Begins Trial of Stem Cell ALS Treatment

    A technology developed at Tel Aviv University in Israel and licensed to a spin-off company invokes the potential of bone-marrow stem cells as treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. A clinical trial, now in Israel and later in the U.S., to test the discovery is recruiting participants. The technology…