-
U.S. Patent Granted for Peptide-Based Obesity Treatment
Unigene Laboratories Inc. in Boonton, New Jersey has received a patent for its appetite suppression technology used in the treatment of obesity. Patent no. 8,076,291 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office was issued on 13 December 2011. The patent protects the company’s compounds that work like the hormone calcitonin to reduce the appetite…
-
Faster, Cheaper Thermoelectric Materials Process Developed
Engineers and materials scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York have discovered new methods to create nanomaterials for more efficient refrigerators and cooling systems with no refrigerants or moving parts. The research is described in a paper published online in the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription required), and the authors have started commercializing…
-
Sanofi, VCs Back Start-Up Deriving Natural Product Drugs
The French drug maker Sanofi, with American venture capital (VC) companies Third Rock Ventures and Greylock Partners, are investing up to $125 million in Warp Drive Bio a new biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Warp Drive Bio, being incubated at Third Rock Ventures, specializes in using genomics to derive drug candidates from natural sources, such…
-
Modified Graphene Found to Dissipate Electronics Heat
Researchers in the U.S., Korea, and China have discovered a modified form of the material graphene with better thermal properties than graphene in its natural state. The team led by Alexander Balandin, an engineering professor at University of California – Riverside, published its findings online in the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription required). The researchers…
-
$600M Venture Fund Targets Technology, Health Care Sectors
Canaan Partners, a venture capital company in Menlo Park, California says it has closed contributions to a new fund to finance start-ups in the technology and health care fields. The company says the $600 million fund, the ninth such fund in its series, will support new technology and health care entrepreneurs. Canaan Partners says two-thirds…
-
Foundation to Fund Drug Maker Diabetic Eye Disease Research
KalVista Pharmaceuticals in Southampton, U.K. and JDRF in New York have formed a partnership to develop a drug candidate with potential to slow the advance of diabetic macular edema (DME). The collaboration aims to move KalVista’s plasma kallikrein inhibitor into human proof-of-concept clinical trials and generate clinical data to highlight its potential as a new…
-
Women U.S. Patent Holders Increase Sharply in 2010
The number of women obtaining U.S. patents in 2010 increased by 35 percent compared to 2009, according to early results of a study commissioned by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC). The study by an independent research company examined patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) between 1975 and 2010. Preliminary results…
-
Diagnostics Company Out-Licenses Cancer Testing Technology
Health Discovery Corporation in Savannah, Georgia says it has licensed its diagnostics technology to NeoGenomics Inc. in Fort Myers, Florida to develop lab tests for blood and solid tumor cancers. The license excludes tests for breast and retina cancers, for which other companies have already acquired Health Discovery’s technology. NeoGenomics will pay Health Discovery Corporation…
-
Analytics Company, Johns Hopkins to Study Asthma Genomes
Knome Inc., a genomics analysis company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says it received a contract from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore to provide its software and services for a study of genetic variants that contribute to asthma in African American and African Caribbean populations. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. The…
-
Report Outlines U.S. Competitive, Innovation Roadmap
The U.S. Department of Commerce released today a report to Congress on “The Competitiveness and Innovative Capacity of the United States” called for by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson (pictured left) discussed the report’s main findings in a briefing at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress…