Tag: preclinical
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RNA Therapy Biotech Earns $44 Million in IPO
1 October 2015. A biotechnology company developing therapies based on RNA, genetic material that sends signals to cells, raised $43.75 million in its initial public stock offering. Mirna Therapeutics Inc. in Austin, Texas issued 6.25 million shares today at $7.00, and trades on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol MIRN. Its shares closed today at…
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Hydrogel Aids Stem Cells Repair Heart Functions
25 September 2015. Tissue engineers and medical researchers at Johns Hopkins University developed a gel material that holds and supports the work of stem cells in repairing heart damage in lab animals. The team led by cardiologist Marie Roselle Abraham and medical materials scientist Jennifer Elisseeff published its findings earlier this month in the journal…
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Regeneron to Develop Antibody Therapy for Ebola
21 September 2015. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. received a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop an engineered antibody designed to treat Ebola infections. The initial $17 million contract from HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA covers initial development and testing work on the therapy, but the program…
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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…
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Small Business Grant Funds Preclinical Lupus Research
24 August 2015. A grant from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is funding preclinical research by a biotechnology company on stem cells as a therapy for a type of lupus. The $225,000 grant from NIAID, part of National Institutes of Health, is made to Ocata Therapeutics Inc. of Marlborough, Massachusetts under the institute’s…
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Antibodies to Treat Cancer Complication Licensed to Pharma
17 August 2015. Aveo Oncology, a developer of biopharmaceuticals for cancer and related diseases, is licensing its engineered antibody designed to treat cachexia, a complication of cancer and other disorders, to the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The agreement could bring Aveo as much as $326 million over the course of the collaboration. Cachexia is a metabolic…
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Nicotine Destroying Drug Candidate Discovered
7 August 2015. Biochemists at Scripps Research Institute reported on an enzyme derived from naturally-occurring bacteria that shows in lab tests can remove nicotine in the blood, with potential as a drug to help smokers quit. The team from the lab of chemistry professor Kim Janda at Scripps’s La Jolla, California campus described their findings…
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Early Test Shows Alzheimer’s Candidate Lowers Brain Deposits
20 July 2015. A drug developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease reduced a large percentage of accumulated harmful peptides and proteins in brains of laboratory mice induced with the disorder. Results of the tests were reported today by the biotechnology company Treventis Corp. in Philadelphia, developer of the drug code-named TRV-101. Alzheimer’s disease is progressive neurodegenerative…
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Magnetic Nanoparticles Found to Boost Immunotherapy
15 July 2015. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University designed a process for making immunotherapy more practical as a cancer treatment by collecting cancer-fighting T-cells faster and easier with magnetic synthetic antigen nanoparticles. The team from the lab of Jonathan Schneck, professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University medical center in Baltimore, published results of lab…
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Spinal Stimulation Start-Up Wins $200K State Award
13 July 2015. PathMaker Neurosystems Inc., a developer of non-invasive devices that stimulate the spinal cord to relieve muscle weakness and paralysis, received a $200,000 award from a Massachusetts science funding agency. The grant was made by Massachusetts Life Sciences Center as part of its life sciences milestone achievement program. PathMaker’s technology uses electronic current…