Hematology

SuperGen Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Montigen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held oncology-focused drug discovery and development company based in Salt Lake City.

PIramed Limited, a privately owned biotechnology company, has teamed up South San Francisco, Calif.-based Genentech to develop a new class of anti-cancer drugs. The drugs target PI 3-kinase, a key intracellular signaling enzyme involved in a broad range of cancers that plays key roles in cell cycle regulation, proliferation, survival, apoptosis and motility.

Dharmacon Inc., a supplier of RNA and RNA interference (RNAi) research products, last month announced the formation of the Genome-Wide RNAi Global Initiative, an alliance of leading international biomedical research centers. The initial goal of the initiative is to accelerate the scientific and medical discoveries made possible by the recent availability of the first complete siRNA library to target genes across the entire human genome.

Array BioPharma recently announced an agreement to amend its Longmont, Colo., facilities leases, extending the term for Array’s current 75,000 square foot laboratory facility to May 31, 2013. Array also has the option to expand its leased space by up to 80,000 square feet and has the right to purchase the buildings it occupies.

In late May, Enzo Life Sciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of Enzo Biochem, launched a new DNA labeling system aimed at array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), a technique that detects alterations in the genome leading to changes in DNA copy number.

Biotechnology company BioE announced in May that it would make commercially available stem cell lines cloned from human umbilical cord blood rather than obtained from human embryos. The company is reportedly the first firm to come to market with such lines, which it refers to as Multi-Lineage Progenitor Cells (MLPCs).

Caliper Life Sciences’ newly-minted strategy of out-licensing its patent estate to gain greater penetration within the life sciences market gained more steam recently with the late April announcement that lab-on-a-chip giant Affymetrix had agreed to license a portion of the company’s microfluidics technology.

Success of company’s Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery platform puts it on development fast track