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Grant Funds Exosome Cancer Research, Optioned to Spin-Off
9 June 2015. A new $1.7 million grant from National Cancer Institute is funding research at University of New Mexico on harnessing exosomes as potential cancer therapies, with a spin-off company already optioning the technology for commercial development. The alliance between the university and spin-off company, Exovita Biosciences, includes an agreement between the university and…
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Injectable Neuro-Electronic Wire Mesh Demonstrated
9 June 2015. Researchers at Harvard University developed a tiny electronic wire mesh that can be injected into the brain and demonstrated its diagnostic and therapeutic potential with lab mice. The team from the lab of chemistry professor Charles Lieber published its findings yesterday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology (paid subscription required, but full text…
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Companies Form Fertility Treatment Technologies Alliance
8 June 2015. An alliance of drug, genomic, and assisted fertility technology companies are collaborating on processes and standards that encourage more consistency in results from assisted reproductive treatment labs. Financial details of the Global Fertility Alliance joining Illumina, Merck, and Genea were not disclosed. The three companies aim to improve outcomes in fertility clinics…
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Biotech Adds Antibiotic Program, Raises $30 Million
8 June 2015. Spero Therapeutics, a developer of antibiotics, is adding a new class of anti-infection drugs to its pipeline, and raised another $30 million to its first venture funding round. The Cambridge, Massachusetts biotechnology company, a spin-off from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was founded in April 2014 to develop therapies addressing the growing…
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FDA Approves Pediatric HIV Drug Formulation
5 June 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an application for a current HIV drug formulated to better treat infections in infants and young children, especially in limited resource regions. The formulation is a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir in pellet form designed to mix with food, and manufactured by the generic drug…
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Gene Editing Modifies Tree Genomes to Reduce Lignin
5 June 2015. Plant scientists at University of Georgia used an emerging technique for gene editing to modify the genomes of poplars and related trees to make those varieties better suited for biofuels. The team from the lab of plant biologist Chung-Jui Tsai in Athens published its findings in a recent letter to the journal…
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Life Sciences Commercialization Firm to Crowdfund IPO
4 June 2015. Innovation Economy Corporation is going public by skipping the usual route of hiring an investment bank, and instead will use crowdfunding to attract investors to its initial public offering of stock. The Riverside, California enterprise, that goes by the trade name ieCrowd, licenses life science and health-related technologies from university research labs…
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Trial Shows Immunotherapy Reduces Rheumatoid Arthritis
4 June 2015. A clinical trial of an immune system therapy shows one treatment reduces levels of harmful immune activity and joint inflammation in people with rheumatoid arthritis. The early-stage trial led by researchers at University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia is reported yesterday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, where…
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Antibiotic Developer Adds $9.2 Million in Early Funds
3 June 2015. Auspherix Limited, a start-up developer of new antibiotic drugs, raised £6 million ($US 9.2 million) in early-stage venture financing. Funding for the two year-old enterprise, located in a pharmaceutical and biotechnology incubator at Stevenage, U.K., was led by technology commercialization company Imperial Innovations plc, with earlier investor Australia’s Medical Research Commercialisation Fund.…
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GE, Institute to Design Digital Manufacturing Platform
3 June 2015. Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago is developing a technology platform to make it easier for manufacturing companies to share technical data with their customers and suppliers, adapting concepts proposed by General Electric, which was chosen to lead the project. The platform, known as digital manufacturing commons, is expected to…