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Safety, Activity Assessed in New Duchenne Drug
25 January 2016. An early-stage clinical shows an experimental drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is safe for patients and produces the desired chemical activity in the body. Results of the trial, conducted by Catabasis Pharmaceuticals were released today. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company says it is now extending the study to test the drug against a…
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Technique Devised to Improve Stem Cell Harvesting
22 January 2016. Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin developed a technique making it easier to detect stem cells and keep active longer in a cell culture. The team from the lab of molecular biologist Zsuzsanna Izsvák published its results in the 21 January issue of the journal Nature Protocols.…
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MD Anderson, AbbVie Partner on Immunotherapies
22 January 2016. MD Anderson Cancer Center and pharmaceutical company AbbVie are collaborating on new treatments for cancer than harness the body’s immune system. Financial and intellectual property aspects of the three-year partnership were not disclosed. MD Anderson is part of the University of Texas system in Houston. The agreement gives AbbVie, in Chicago, access…
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Company Founded to Advance Concussion Treatment
21 January 2016. A San Diego surgeon who conducts research on traumatic brain injury started a new company to take his discovery of a drug for treating concussions to market. The company, Oxeia Biopharmaceuticals founded by Vishal Bansal, began operations today, and revealed its corporate and scientific boards. Bansal studied the connection between metabolic and…
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BD to Create In-House Health Care Tech Start-Ups
21 January 2016. Medical device maker Becton, Dickinson and Company plans to create new health care technologies on an entrepreneurial model, working with Singularity University in Silicon Valley. Financial aspects of the collaboration were not disclosed. Becton, Dickinson, or BD in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey manufactures medical devices and equipment, as well as diagnostics instruments…
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Ultrasound Healing Studied for Peripheral Nervous System
20 January 2016. A biomedical engineering lab is investigating ultrasound stimulation of the peripheral nervous system as a therapeutic technique for human organs. The research at Columbia University in New York is funded by a four-year $3.33 million grant from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The peripheral nervous system is the array of neural…
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Bacterial Bonding Technique Devised to Simplify Vaccines
20 January 2016. Researchers at Oxford University developed and tested engineered proteins from bacteria that in lab tests make vaccine design simpler and more reliable. The team from the lab of biochemistry professor Mark Howarth published its proof-of-concept results in the 19 January issue of Scientific Reports. Howarth — with immunologists from Oxford’s Jenner Institute…
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Zoetis Inks Deal for Antibiotic Alternative in Animals
19 January 2016. The veterinary medicines company Zoetis is gaining exclusive rights to evaluate and possibly license an alternative to antibiotics in farm animals. While some financial details of the agreement with Anatara Lifesciences in Brisbane, Australia were disclosed, dollar amounts were not revealed. Antibiotics are used to treat disease in livestock and reduce food-borne…
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Biodegradable Brain Sensors Developed, Tested
19 January 2016. Engineers and medical researchers developed tiny, implanted sensors measuring brain functions in lab animals that dissolve and leave the body in a few weeks. The team from University of Illinois in Urbana and Washington University in St. Louis published its findings on 18 January in the journal Nature (paid subscription required). Researchers…
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Smartphone App Computes Preterm Birth Risk
18 January 2016. A smartphone app based on recently published research aims to calculate the risk of women giving birth prematurely. The app, called Quipp, was designed at King’s College London in the U.K., and is available free of charge for Apple iPhones. The Women’s Health Clinical Academic Group at Kings College developed Quipp —…