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Early Trial Results Indicate Cystic Fibrosis Drug Efficacy
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts says interim data from a clinical trial of its cystic fibrosis drugs point to improved lung function among patients who took the drugs. The results reported from the trial were for patients with two copies of the most common mutation of the cystic fibrosis regulator gene. The phase 2…
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Genomic Test Developed for ADHD Drug Decisions
AssureRx Health Inc. in Mason, Ohio has developed a test to help clinicians prescribe the appropriate medications for patients — both children and adults — with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The test, called GeneSightRx ADHD, gauges genomic differences in the way different patients would tolerate ADHD medications. Understanding a patient’s unique genomic composition may…
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Challenge Seeks Solution for Tracking Electronic Waste
A challenge on InnoCentive seeks solutions for tracking shipments of used electronic components and subsystems and ensuring that they are disposed responsibly. The crowd-sourced contest will award prizes totaling $10,000 and has a deadline extended to 3 June 2012. The challenge is co-sponsored by IT services company EMC Corporation and the Environmental Defense Fund. Participants…
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Engineered Nanoparticles Target Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have developed nanoscale particles that can deliver antibiotics in larger quantities, but directly to the targeted bacteria to overcome drug resistance. The findings of the engineering, computer science, and health sciences team appear online in the journal ACS Nano (paid…
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Navigation Module for Inside Buildings in Development
Engineers at four Fraunhofer institutes and five companies in Germany are building a module for smartphones to help people navigate inside interior spaces, much like a GPS works when outside. The researchers plan to give a demonstration of the MST-Smartsense Sensor (pictured at right) at the Sensor+Test trade fair in Nuremberg held 22-24 May 2012.…
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Three Drug Makers Partner with NIH to Expand Therapies
National Institutes of Health and three pharmaceutical manufacturers will collaborate on research to find new treatments for diseases from currently approved drugs. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly and Company will make at least 20 of their existing compounds available for this research to NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The program, called Discovering…
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NIST Develops New Biometric Communications Protocol
Computer scientists at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and published a new protocol for communicating with biometric sensors over wired and wireless networks. Biometric sensors are being used increasingly for security access to and controls on electronic systems and physical facilities. The new protocol, called WS-Biometric Devices (WS-BD), allows desktops, laptops,…
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Cancer Institute Spin-Off Lands New €3 Million Financing
iTeos Therapeutics SA, a drug discovery company in Gosselies, Belgium, has secured €3 million ($3.94 million) in series A financing, the first investment round after starting up. The company received its initial seed funding, totaling €6 million, in December 2011. iTeos Therapeutics is a joint spin-off company of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in…
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SBIR Grant Awarded for Infant Respiratory Vaccine
GenVec Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland received a Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at National Institutes of Health to help fund development of the company’s vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus. The phase 1 SBIR grant is valued at some $590,000. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infects…
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Nanotech Solution Helps Enable Cancer Drug Delivery
Researchers at University of North Carolina medical school in Chapel Hill have found a process for delivering the cancer drug wortmannin using nanoscale particles, a drug that had not been deliverable using traditional methods. Their findings appear online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid subscription required). Wortmannin had been considered…