Tag: Europe
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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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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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Bristol-Myers Squibb Licensing Gene Therapies in $2.3B Deal
6 April 2015. Drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb is licensing gene therapies from biotechnology company uniQure N.V. in a deal with a total potential value of $2.3 billion, including an equity stake in uniQure. The agreement gives Bristol-Myers Squibb exclusive access to as many as 10 disease programs being developed by uniQure, including a treatment for…
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Hand-Held DNA Sequencer IDs Bacteria, Viruses
26 March 2015. A palm-sized DNA sequencing device was able to identify a number of bacteria and viruses, and discriminate between closely related species in about 6 hours. Tests of the MinIon device, made by Oxford Nanopore Technologies in Oxford, U.K., were reported today in the journal GigaScience. Oxford Nanopore is developing the MinIon as a…
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U.K. Govt, Pharmas Form Dementia Research Fund
17 March 2015. A coalition of the United Kingdom government, five pharmaceutical companies, and the foundation Alzheimer’s Research UK are creating a $100 million fund to finance early research into treatments and cures for dementia. The U.K. health minister Jeremy Hunt is scheduled to unveil the Dementia Discovery Fund at a World Health Organization meeting…
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Device Shown to Reduce Stroke in Heart Valve Replacements
16 March 2015. First results from a clinical trial in Europe and Israel show an experimental mesh device deployed during heart valve replacement surgery sharply reduces strokes and cognitive damage, complications associated with the procedure. A team from Yale University School of Medicine presented its findings yesterday of the study testing TriGuard, made by Keystone…
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Gates Invests, Supports R&D in RNA Vaccine Maker
6 March 2015. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is making an equity investment and providing a grant to support research at CureVac GmbH, a developer of vaccines and therapies with RNA molecules. The foundation is investing €46 million ($52 million) in CureVac, in Tübingen, Germany, but the amount of the grant supporting research in…
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Adult Stem Cell Quality Control Methods Devised
27 February 2015. A European research team developed a process for testing the safety and quality of adult stem cells before being used in gene therapy treatments on patients. The team led by stem cell scientist Yann Barrandon at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne published its findings today in the journal EMBO…
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Synthetic Bone Marrow System Produces Platelets
19 February 2015. Bioengineers in the U.S. and Italy designed a programmable bioreactor system that emulates bone marrow to produce platelets, blood cells that coagulate to prevent bleeding. The team led by Tufts University bioengineering professors Alessandra Balduini and David Kaplan published its findings last month in the journal Blood (paid subscription required). Balduini and…
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European Patent Issued for Rare Liver Disease Drug
18 February 2015. Synageva BioPharma Corp., a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for rare diseases, received a European patent on its treatment for lysosomal acid lipase deficiency, an inherited disease causing severe disruptions and injuries to the liver. The European Patent Office issued patent number EP2613798 B1 on 11 February to inventor Anthony Quinn, Synageva’s chief…