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Preventive Drugs Found to Stop New HIV Infections
2 September 2015. A large-scale study of preexposure prophylaxis or PrEP, the use of antiviral drugs to prevent HIV infection, found the practice prevented new HIV infections among Kaiser Permanente clients in San Francisco over a 32-month period. Results of the study led by Kaiser Permanente epidemiologist Jonathan Volk, appear in yesterday’s issue of the…
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Genomic Sequencing Improves Children’s Cancer Care
2 September 2015. A study by medical researchers at University of Michigan shows sequencing of genomes and tumors of children with cancer provides their physicians with new information leading to changes in care given a large percentage of patients. The team led by Michigan pathology professor Arul Chinnaiyan published its findings yesterday in the Journal…
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Genome Editing Biotech Gains $70M in Venture Funds
1 September 2015. Intellia Therapeutics, a developer of therapies that edit human genomes to fix inherited disorders, raised $70 million in its second round of venture financing. OrbiMed HealthCare Fund Management led the funding round for the Cambridge, Massachusetts enterprise, with new and current investors taking part. Intellia Therapeutics, founded in November 2014, is a…
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Grant Funds Research on Nanotech Cancer Treatments
1 September 2015. National Cancer Institute is renewing its support for a Northwestern University research center advancing nanotechnology to design new cancer treatments. The Northwestern University Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence is the recipient of a new five-year, $11.7 million grant from National Cancer Institute, part of National Institutes of Health. The Center for Cancer…
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Sanofi, Google to Partner on Diabetes Care, Devices
31 August 2015. The pharmaceutical company Sanofi is collaborating with Google’s life sciences teams to develop technologies for improving the care of people with diabetes. Financial and intellectual property details of the partnership were not disclosed. Diabetes is a chronic condition where the pancreas does not create enough insulin to process the sugar glucose to flow…
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In-Heart Pacemaker Benefits Shown in Clinical Trial
31 August 2015. First reports from a clinical trial of a heart pacemaker placed inside the heart without wires shows after six months the device maintained effective pacing of patients’ hearts and worked without serious adverse effects in a vast majority of cases. Results of the trial testing the Nanostim device by St. Jude Medical…
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Simple Scaffold Developed for Synthetic Heart Tissue
28 August 2015. Engineers at University of Toronto in Canada designed a biocompatible mesh framework that makes it easier to grow synthetic heart muscle tissue for research and medical use. The team led by chemical engineering professor Milica Radisic published its findings today in the journal Science Advances. Radisic and first author Boyang Zhang are…
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FDA Proposes Guidance, Rule on Biosimilar Naming
28 August 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed new guidance yesterday to provide a common, nonproprietary naming system for generic forms of biologic treatments, known as biosimilars. The agency also proposed a rule applying the system to six biologics and biosimilars already approved, announced with the guidance in a blog post on the…
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Allied-Bristol Licensing Immunotherapy Technology
27 August 2015. Allied-Bristol Life Sciences, a joint venture of science commercialization company Allied Minds and Bristol-Myers Squibb, is licensing a new type of synthetic chemistry technology from Yale University that can stimulate the immune system to treat cancer. Financial details of the licensing agreement were not disclosed. The agreement covers a technology known as…
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Trial Shows Response to Antibody Treating Multiple Myeloma
27 August 2015. An early-stage clinical trial shows some patients receiving an engineered antibody to attack multiple myeloma cancer cells experienced at least a partial remission of their disease. Results of the study, led by oncologist Paul Richardson of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, appeared yesterday in New England Journal of Medicine. Multiple…