June 2015 Volume 11, Issue 6
Volume 11, Issue 6 | June 2015
June 2015
In this Issue
Business & Government Policy
Rallying around rare diseases
Alexion bets billions on Synageva and its drug candidate KanumaNabbing a leukemia portfolio for $900M
Baxter BioScience seeks to expand global oncology footprint with acquisition of OncasparSweet on Sobi?
Not-so-mystery bidder Pfizer expresses interest in acquiring Swedish rare-disease companyKidney capabilities
Pfizer gets minority interest with option to acquire AM-PharmaA $250-million foundation
FMI and Roche complete strategic transaction to advance molecular information and precision medicine in oncologyOn the cutting edge
A roundup of instrumentation, software and other tools and technology newsDiagnostics
Cruising along with companion diagnostics
Myriad expands two CDx partnerships and presents Prolaris dataIBM’s Watson takes on cancer
More than a dozen cancer institutes set to join computing giant to accelerate personalized medicineBest in blood
Amarantus’ blood-based version of MSPrecise could become a gold standardCapnia gets NIH grant for sickle cell anemia screening
The SBIR grant totals approximately $220,000Q&A
Q&A: A ‘Trojan Horse’ to fight cancer
Smuggling in an army to help the immune system unwittingly destroy tumorsSpecial Reports
Cancer Special Report: Body, heal thyself
To attack cancer, researchers are tapping evolution’s weapon of choice: the immune systemEditor's Focus
We need to ‘C’ the big picture
What drives this editor nuts faster than almost anything else? Conspiracy theories about pharma and biotech, particularly the ones that insist that companies are sitting on the cure for cancer so that they can get ever richer on non-curative therapies for the disease.Commentary
The Internet of medical things
It isn't that mobile health devices and other, similar technologies aren't a potential boon for things like clinical trial data handling. It's just that we aren't quite at the point where we can realize their true worth or even use them properly in most cases.Commentary: Encouraging advances now underway in cancer research
The field of cancer genomics is rapidly advancing both in knowledge and in relevance to the treatment of cancer, as detailed genetic profiling of human cancers has now become possible. Mass spec imaging is helping to take that farther.Clinical Trials
Envisioning a better future for wet AMD patients
Ohr Pharmaceutical to launch Phase 3 study of OHR-102 eye drop therapy to treat wet AMDMerger boosts development of Sanfilippo treatment
Following acquisition of Abeona, PlasmaTech plans to push company’s pipeline forward with two Phase 1/2 clinical trials in 2015In pursuit of predictive biomarkers
NanoString, CITN to seek out biomarkers to predict outcomes for cancer immunotherapiesAbbVie shares data on Humira in non-infectious uveitis
Results of VISUAL-I show Humira meets primary endpoint of prolonging time to treatment failureDiscovery
TSRI scientists link GIRK3 to binge drinking
Study reveals molecular mechanisms of binge drinking and may reveal avenues for treating substance abuseCystic fibrosis deal focused on ‘adding tomorrows’
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics announces $14-million research expansion agreement with GenzymeFirst and PhoreMost
Newly founded company will apply Site-Seeker platform to identify drug targets considered ‘undruggable’Two for FSHD
Facio partners with Evotec to initiate a FSHD drug discovery programPreclinical
Eyes on the (glaucoma) prize
Isarna Therapeutics demonstrates capability of antisense oligonucleotide to treat glaucomaSome ocular help from man’s best friend
Novel gene-based therapy for achromatopsia demonstrates functional rescue of cone cellsNovel pancreatic cancer drug may also combat malignant ascites
Treatment being studied involves a combo of low-dose cancer prodrug ifosfamide and Cell-in-a-Box capsulesBald but beautiful
Huntingdon Life Sciences and Harlan Laboratories announce the launch of the SHrN novel hairless NOD.SCID model at AACR 2015Peering into the preclinical realm
Here’s a brief roundup of some additional news items related to preclinical research that you might find of interest.Research & Development
Skin as good as the real thing?
Synthetic membrane from Millipore reportedly works as well as real skin in transdermal diffusion studiesPopping the Cork on a microbiome alliance
Janssen Biotech, APC Microbiome Institute unite to investigate microbiome’s potential in IBDSpeeding single-cell genomics
WaferGen and Genentech to explore SmartChip platform in sequencing applicationsPulling the genomic puppetmaster’s strings
Ability to modify epigenome very specifically prevents ‘scorched earth’ approachLabguru embraces ChemAxon’s Marvin JS
Integration of web-based electronic lab notebook with chemistry software tool seeks to enhance functionality for chemists
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The crucial role of sample preparation in biotherapy manufacturing
Discover how better sample preparation can unlock improved assay accuracy and analytical results.
Discovering deeper insights into malaria research
Malaria continues to drive urgent research worldwide, with new therapies and tools emerging to combat the parasite’s complex lifecycle and global burden.
Accelerating RNA therapeutic testing with liver microphysiological platforms
Researchers can now study oligonucleotide delivery and efficacy in a system that models a real human liver.
