Tag: Japan

  • Takeda Awarded $19.8 Million for Zika Vaccine

    Takeda Pharmaceutical Company is receiving $19.8 million from a U.S. public health agency for initial steps to develop a vaccine to prevent Zika infections.

  • Spacecraft Returns with Space Station Research Samples

    A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returned today with samples from several biomedical research studies conducted by astronauts on the International Space Station.

  • Hemophilia Therapy Candidate Given Breakthrough Status

    4 September 2015. A synthetic antibody designed to prevent bleeding episodes among people with the most common type of hemophilia received a breakthrough therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The pharmaceutical company Roche says FDA assigned the designation its biologic therapy code-named ACE910, now being tested in clinical trials. Hemophilia is an inherited…

  • Spin-Off Biotech Formed for Autoimmune Disorders

    2 June 2015. Drug maker Astellas Pharma Inc. in Tokyo and Anokion SA, a biotechnology company in Lausanne, Switzerland, are forming Kanyos Bio Inc., a  spin-off enterprise to develop therapy candidates for autoimmune diseases. The deal could bring Kanyos Bio, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as much as $760 million, as well as an equity investment…

  • Astellas Getting First Access to Leukemia Antibody

    3 April 2015. MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is granting Astellas Pharma Inc. in Tokyo an option to license MD Anderson’s discovery of a synthetic antibody showing promise as a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. For the licensing option, MD Anderson could earn up to $26 million in fees and research funding. Acute myeloid…

  • XPrize Awards $5.25M for Lunar Technologies

    26 January 2015. A competition to develop new technologies for landing and robotic exploration of the moon awarded $5.25 million in 9 prizes to 5 private companies, as part of the Google Lunar XPrize challenge. The companies — from the U.S., Germany, Japan, and India — received the prizes for their design and development of…

  • Takada Pharma, GE Healthcare to Partner on Liver Disease

    11 November 2014. Takada Pharmaceutical Company and GE Healthcare are collaborating on research into scarring of liver tissue that happens when damage occurs, often from fat building up in the liver, an increasingly common condition. Financial terms of the partnership, announced today at a meeting of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in Boston,…

  • Simple 3-D Graphene Construction Process Devised

    17 October 2014. Materials scientists at Kyoto University in Japan developed a new process that simplifies the building of three-dimension structures with graphene, a light, strong, conductive material with many industrial and commercial applications. Franklin Kim and Jianli Zou from Kyoto’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences  published their findings yesterday in the journal Nature Communications…

  • Astellas, Harvard Partner on Retinitis Pigmentosa Targets

    14 October 2014. Astellas Pharma Inc. in Tokyo is collaborating with a genetics and ophthalmology lab at Harvard University to discover more about the onset of the eye disease retinitis pigmentosa and identify therapy targets. Financial details of the three-year deal with Harvard were not disclosed. Retinitis pigmentosa is a family of inherited eye disorders…

  • Investment Fund Launches to Support Stem Cell Ventures

    29 September 2014. ReproCell Inc., a developer of stem cell lines for research and therapies in Yokohama, Japan, is starting an investment fund that aims to back new biotechnology companies bringing stem cell research to market. The fund, called Cell Innovation Partners, begins with ¥800 million ($US 7.3 million) in capital, provided by Shinsei Corporate…