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AstraZeneca Building New Biologics Plant
18 May 2015. The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca plans to build a new facility in Södertälje, Sweden to manufacture biologic medications. The $285 million plant is expected to employ from 150 to 250 workers when it goes into operation in 2019. Södertälje is the site of AstraZeneca’s largest factory for making tablets and capsules, as well…
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Trial Shows Antibody Reduces Days with Migraines
15 May 2015. A clinical trial shows high doses of an engineered antibody reduced the number of days per month that people with a history of migraines experience migraine episodes. First findings from the intermediate-stage trial of the antibody code-named AMG334 by the biotechnology company Amgen were reported at a meeting of the International Headache…
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Oxford Establishes £300M Spin-Off Capital Fund
15 May 2015. University of Oxford in the U.K. is creating a capital investment fund to help launch spin-off companies based on research from university labs. The £300 million ($US 472 million) fund will be managed by a new enterprise, Oxford Sciences Innovation plc, which will be the university’s preferred capital financier for businesses generated…
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Sanford-Burnham, Lilly Partnering on Immune Therapies
14 May 2015. Sanford-Burnham Research Institute and Eli Lilly and Company are collaborating on discovering new therapies for immune system disorders using biotechnology tools. Financial and intellectual property aspects of their agreement were not disclosed. The partnership aims to combine Sanford-Burnham’s experience in cell communication pathways with Eli Lilly’s work in biotechnology applied to immunological…
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Trial Testing 3-Drug Combo for Drug Resistant TB
14 May 2015. A new clinical trial is underway in South Africa testing a regimen of three drugs to treat extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, a form of the disease that does not respond to normal or even back-up treatments. The trial is sponsored by Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, or TB Alliance, an international consortium…
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Mayo Clinic, Baylor to Study Genomes for Drug Safety
13 May 2015. Mayo Clinic and Baylor College of Medicine are beginning a study of 10,000 human genomes to reveal drug safety problems and highlight where drugs may not work for some people. Financial aspects of the collaboration, involving Mayo Clinic’s Biobank and Baylor’s Human Genome Sequencing Center, were not disclosed. The research aims to…
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Biotech, Research Institute Partner on Gene Therapies
13 May 2015. A collaboration between a U.S. biotechnology company and French research institute is enhancing current techniques to allow patients with rare diseases to receive multiple doses of gene therapies. Selecta Biosciences in Watertown, Masachusetts and Généthon in Evry, France plan to co-develop and co-own the results of their partnership, but financial details of…
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RNA Therapies Developer Spins-Off Rare Disease Venture
12 May 2015. Moderna Therapeutics, a developer of RNA-based treatments, is starting a new company to design therapies with its technology to address rare diseases. Financial details of the spin-off company Elpidera LLC, the third such venture launched by Moderna, were not disclosed. Moderna, a biotechnology enterprise in Cambridge, Massachusetts, develops medications that use genetic…
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Gene Editing Harnessed to ID Cancer Targets
12 May 2015. Researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York developed a technique that reveals targets for leukemia drugs with an emerging gene editing technology. A team from the lab of geneticist Christopher Vakoc published its findings yesterday in the journal Nature Biotechnology (paid subscription required). Vakoc and colleagues study proteins regulating chromatin,…
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Trial Underway Testing Sleep Apnea Stimulation Device
11 May 2015. A clinical trial testing an experimental neurostimulation device to treat obstructive sleep apnea implanted the device in its first two test patients. The trial is sponsored by ImThera Medical Inc. in San Diego, the developer of the aura6000 device being tested. Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder where muscles in the throat…