Tag: Europe
-
Roche Acquiring RNA Medications Biotech Company
5 August 2014. The pharmaceutical company Roche is acquiring Santaris Pharma, a biotechnology company developing therapies targeting ribonucleic acid or RNA that performs vital genetic functions. Roche is expected to pay as much as $450 million for Santaris, based in Hørsholm, Denmark. Santaris designs therapies focusing on RNA, a fundamental molecular building block in the…
-
Early Trial Shows Parkinson’s Vaccine Creates Antibodies
31 July 2014. An early-stage clinical trial testing the safety of an experimental vaccine to treat Parkinson’s disease, shows the vaccine generates antibodies that fight the build-up of proteins in the brain associated with the disorder. The vaccine is made by the biotechnology company Affiris AG, which presented the results today at a press conference…
-
Pfizer Acquires Baxter Vaccines Business
31 July 2014. Baxter International in Deerfield, Illinois sold its vaccines operations to Pfizer Inc. in New York for $635 million. The deal covers two current Baxter vaccines and part of a plant in Orth, Austria where the vaccines are produced. One of the vaccines acquired by Pfizer, FSME-IMMUN, protects against tick-borne encephalitis, a viral…
-
Cancer Screening Blood Test Proposed, New Company Formed
28 July 2014. A team from University of Bradford in the U.K. developed a simple blood test, which in early tests suggests it could screen patients for common types of cancer. The researchers led by medical sciences professor Diana Anderson published their findings last Friday in FASEB Journal, published by Federation of American Societies for…
-
Trial Shows Drug Not Extending Breast Cancer Survival Time
25 July 2014. A late-stage clinical trial of the cancer drug sorafenib shows the drug, combined with the chemotherapy drug capecitabine, does not extend the amount of progression-free survival time of advanced breast cancer patients, compared to capecitabine alone. Sorafenib, marketed under the brand name Nexavar, is made by Onyx Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco,…
-
Student Designs Simple Water Filter, Seeks Crowdfunding
24 July 2014. An engineering student at ETH Zurich, a science and technology university in Switzerland, designed a simple, inexpensive water filter to bring drinking water to developing countries that lack reliable clean water sources. Jeremy Nussbaumer developed the DrinkPure filter while an undergraduate at ETH Zurich, and now has a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo…
-
Spin-Off Company Developing Cardiac Drug Tests
22 July 2014. A medical researcher at Coventry University in the U.K. is spinning-off a new company to commercialize her research on cardiac drug toxicity for screening new therapies for dangerous side effects before testing on patients. Helen Maddock, a lecturer in cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology, is starting InoCardia to provide this service to pharmaceutical…
-
Immunocore, Lilly Collaborate on T-Cell Cancer Therapies
16 July 2014. Drug maker Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis and Immunocore Ltd., a biotechnology company in Oxford, U.K. are jointly discovering new cancer therapies based on T-cells in the body’s immune system. The deal will pay Immunocore $15 million for each new therapy identified, with additional payments of $10 million for each therapy…
-
Big Data Quickly Identify Foodborne Illness Sources
3 July 2014. Data analysts and public health experts at the IBM research center in San Jose, California developed techniques for faster identification of sources of foodborne diseases from available public health and retail sales data. The team led by IBM’s James Kaufman, the company’s public health research manager, published its findings today online in…
-
Trial: Insulin Pumps Better Control Glucose Than Injections
3 July 2014. An international clinical trial shows insulin pumps worn by people with type 2 diabetes do a better job of controlling blood glucose levels than multiple daily injections of insulin, the usual control treatment. Results from the post-marketing study funded by Medtronic Inc., a medical device developer in Minneapolis that makes insulin pumps,…