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Immunotherapy Shown to Clear Some Cervical Lesions
17 September 2015. A clinical trial testing a vaccine designed to clear up cervical lesions or sores before they become cancerous, found women receiving the vaccine eradicated more of these lesions than those receiving a placebo. Results of the intermediate-stage trial, funded by Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. that makes the candidate vaccine, appear in today’s issue…
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Allied Minds Forming Space Signaling Company
17 September 2015. Allied Minds, a research commercialization company in Boston, is forming a new enterprise harnessing space satellites to detect wireless signals from earth for maritime, emergency, and commercial applications. The company, HawkEye 360 Inc., is licensing research on radio-frequency communications from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, designed initially for U.S. defense and…
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Platelet-Like Nanoparticles Boost Therapeutic Effects
16 September 2015. Engineers and medical researchers at University of California in San Diego designed biocompatible nanoparticles disguised as blood platelets, which they found increased the particles’ targeting and medicinal effects. The team led by engineering faculty Liangfang Zhang and Shu Chien published its proof-of-concept study today in the journal Nature (paid subscription required). The UC-San Diego researchers are seeking to…
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Spin-Off Formed to Develop Brain Disorder Therapies
16 September 2015. A new enterprise developing biologic therapies for disorders of the brain and nervous system is underway, spun-off from the acquisition in July 2015 of Naurex Inc. by the pharmaceutical company Allergan plc. The new company, Aptinyx Inc. in Evanston, Illinois will have many of the same team at Naurex, itself a spin-off enterprise from Northwestern…
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Celgene, Antibody Network Partner on Cancer Targets
15 September 2015. The biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp. is collaborating with a consortium of university protein engineering labs to identify targets for antibodies that harness the immune system to treat cancer. The deal provides Celgene with an option to license antibody candidates addressing cancer targets from the consortium, known as Recombinant Antibody Network, for which…
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NIH Backing Alzheimer’s Onset Drug Trial
15 September 2015. National Institute on Aging, part of National Institutes of Health, is funding a late-stage clinical trial testing a current epilepsy drug as a treatment to delay the early onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms. The $7.5 million grant, part of NIH’s national plan to address Alzheimer’s disease, supports the trial testing a low-dose formulation…
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Shanah Tovah 5776
14 September 2015. Science and Enterprise is taking off on Monday, 14 September to observe Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. We wish everyone of any faith or without, a happy and healthy new year, 5776 in our calendar. We will resume regular posting on Tuesday. * * *
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Seattle Children’s, Biotech Collaborate on Gene Editing
11 September 2015. The biotechnology company bluebird bio and Seattle Children’s Research Institute are partnering on gene editing technologies to treat inherited pediatric diseases. Their agreement calls for bluebird bio — the name is spelled in all lower-case characters — based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Seattle — to provide $3 million for research on these…
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Device Detects Breast Cancer Recurrence, Spread
11 September 2015. A research team led by medical and engineering faculty at University of Michigan designed an implanted device that could detect the recurrence and early spread of breast cancer. Results of a proof-of-concept study testing the device in lab mice appears this week in the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). The team…
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Research Group, CureVac Partner on AIDS Vaccine
10 September 2015. An organization encouraging development of AIDS vaccines and the pharmaceutical company CureVac are collaborating on creating a potent AIDS vaccine technology. Financial and intellectual property aspects of the partnership between the not-for-profit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, or IAVI, and CureVac in Tubingen, Germany were not disclosed. IAVI sponsors research and development of…