Science and Enterprise

Tag: biotechnology

  • Small Business Grant Given for Cancer Drug Delivery System

    Celsion Corp., a biotechnology drug development company in Columbia, Maryland, has received a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health. This funding will help the company develop its heat-activated liposomal — encapsulated cellular membrane sac — technology in combination with carboplatin, a frequently used oncology drug for…

  • Contract Awarded for Acute Radiation Therapy

    Cellerant Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company in San Carlos, California, received a five-year contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), in the Department of Health and Human Services to develop CLT-008, the company’s cellular therapy for the treatment of acute radiation syndrome. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says acute radiation…

  • Stem Cell Company: Court Order Not Applicable to Our Work

    The chairman of International Stem Cell Corp. (ISCO) in Oceanside, California, says he does not expect the order on Monday of a judge blocking federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to have negative effects on the company’s therapeutic programs. Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a…

  • Study Shows Vision Restored with Biosynthetic Corneas

    A two-year clinical study by biotech company FibroGen, located in San Francisco, California, shows surgical implantation of biosynthetic corneas can restore vision and promote nerve regeneration in patients who had corneal damage and significant vision loss. The findings are published in the 25 August issue of Science Translational Medicine. The biosynthetic corneas were made of…

  • H1N1 Drug Gets Positive Results in Preclinical Tests

    AVI BioPharma Inc. of Bothell, Washington reported positive results from two preclinical studies evaluating the therapeutic potential of its drug AVI-7100 against a fully virulent pandemic H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. The results showed statistically significant reductions in average viral titer — a quantitative measure of biological activity in a recombinant virus —…

  • Aileron, Roche to Partner on Peptide Drug Delivery

    Aileron Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts announced today a partnership with the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche to develop and commercialize a new class of drugs called stapled peptide therapeutics. Roche and Aileron will develop drug candidates with this technology for up to five targets in Roche’s fields of expertise: oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism, and central nervous…

  • Biotech Researchers Publish Parkinson’s Gene Silencing Data

    Researchers from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, collaborating with colleagues at research institutes, reported effective silencing of a gene associated with Parkinson’s Disease. The pre-clinical findings were published 11 August in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS). The researchers silenced the alpha-synuclein gene using an RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic administered directly to the…

  • Symposium Reports on Open Source Drug Discovery

    A day-long symposium today at the American Chemical Society national meeting in Boston, Massachusetts reports on efforts to lift the secrecy often surrounding drug discovery. This new approach known as open-source drug discovery connects an online worldwide community that collaborates on discovering and developing new drugs. This combination of movement and work program has the…

  • HHS Review Highlights Role of Business in Medical Countermeasures

    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today released a report on the federal government’s system to produce medications, vaccines, equipment, and supplies needed to meet a health emergency. The report — Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasure Enterprise Review: Transforming the Enterprise to Meet Long Range National Needs — reviews the process and makes…

  • Small Business Grant Given for Recurrent Sarcoma Vaccine

    MabVax Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company in San Diego, California received a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The grant will support a Phase II clinical trial with 134 metastatic sarcoma — cancer of connective or supportive tissue — patients in a randomized, multicenter, double-blind study of a vaccine developed…