January 2015 Volume 11, Issue 1
Volume 11, Issue 1 | January 2015
January 2015
In this Issue
Business & Government Policy

Merck to pay $8.4 billion for Cubist
Merck cites leadership in anti-infectives and identification of hospital acute care as a priority area
MedImmune boosts cancer capacities with Definiens deal
Acquisition brings with it Tissue Phenomics, an imaging technology for biomarker identification
Pay to delay?
Ranbaxy and AstraZeneca win jury victory in test of what antitrust limits may be placed on reverse payment deals
Patent Docs: Copyright law threats to U.S. drug innovation
The copyright case of Kirtsaeng v John Wiley & Sons decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last term could have far-reaching effects on the industry
On the cutting edge
A roundup of instrumentation, software and other tools and technology newsClinical Trials

Targeting MS at its root
Servier and GeNeuro to advance drug offering new approach to treating multiple sclerosis
Otsuka to acquire Avanir for $3.5 billion
Chemical entity AVP-786 for Alzheimer’s, soon to enter Phase 3 trials, is a major draw for Otsuka
On ‘cloud 9’ with new mobile health app
Medidata, GSK evaluate impact of cloud-based tech on engagement, data quality and efficiencies in clinical trials
Nanomedicine platform shows mettle
BIND presents positive Phase 2 results for nanomedicine platform in NSCLC at AACR annual symposium
Alion taps MPI for companion diagnostic
Diagnostic would identify patients likely to respond to undisclosed ion channel inhibitor cancer treatmentDiscovery

Two partners, three initiatives, five years
Evotec and Sanofi forge three-part deal to improve innovation in drug discovery and preclinical development
Getting into the genetics of autism
Recent Nature study identifies 107 genes tied to autism risk
Blood plasma signature may be key to early autism diagnosis
Test identified autistic children with 81-percent accuracy, according to Stemina-UC Davis report in PLOS One
AstraZeneca explores new target for heart disease
Company will work with Lipigon on potential drugs to modulate lipoprotein lipase
Making medicines
GSK names winners of 2014 Discovery Fast Track Challenge and explains rationale for programQ&A

Q&A: Taking a look at contracting and pricing
A brief conversations with Lois Byra, vice president of contracting, strategy and compliance with Alliance Life Sciences Consulting GroupFeature

Show Preview: SLAS goes East
Washington, D.C., will host ‘what’s new in lab automation and screening’ for the SLAS2015 meetingEditor's Focus

Making a big deal of mergers
A lot of money is being spent to acquire pipelines and potential blockbusters, but it's happening at a time when the cost of development and commercialization is already through the roof.Commentary

Out of Order: Substance over volume
For all of our improvements in throughput and other technological achievements, it is not clear that we've seen much improvement in the number or quality of drugs being produced, and we certainly haven’t made them less expensive. Maybe we need to ask some better questions about what we're doing, how we're doing it and why.
Guest commentary: Solutions to the drug development cycle and antibiotic resistance problems
The cell-based assay arena has become highly prevalent due to the serious, major and mounting medical challenges facing healthcare internationally, and calorimetry provides the answers to a number of some of these critical challengesDiagnostics

A good attitude toward Longitude
CPA Global to support Longitude Prize 2014, which seeks to improve the antibiotic landscape
A harmonious transaction
Roche acquires Ariosa Diagnostics, gains noninvasive Harmony Prenatal Test
Achieving good arthritis predictions
New clinical data show Crescendo’s Vectra DA is a better predictor of joint damage in RA patients
myChoice CDx becomes TESARO’s choice
TESARO directors select Myriad Genetics’ companion diagnostic for treating resistant ovarian cancerPreclinical

Better together?
Combination cancer immunotherapy regimen shows promise for systemic immune response to cancer cells
Programmed hematopoietic cells show potential
Fate Therapeutics demonstrates treatment option that could be life-saver for people with hematologic malignancies
Getting the facts on FACT
CBL0137 found to be effective in pancreatic cancer by targeting cancer stem cells
Going after vision loss with MANF
Amarantus announces positive preclinical data on effects of MANF on vision in model of retinitis pigmentosaResearch & Development

Preferred tox partner
MicroMatrices enters partnership agreement for use of ACD’s RNAscope technology
Joint R&D on Accurins
BIND and Merck collaborate on developing nanomedicines for oncology, pipeline expansion
Focus on the microbiome
MIT partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital, other institutions to foster regional ecosystem for rapidly evolving field
Nanofiber vs. HIV
Novel nanofiber-based technology developed at University of Missouri could help prevent HIV/AIDS transmission

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