March 2011 Volume 7, Issue 3
Volume 7, Issue 3 | March 2011
March 2011
In this Issue
Global News
Done deal for Genzyme
sanofi- aventis finalizes agreement to acquire Genzyme for $20.1 billion, up from earlier $18.5 billion offerA Valeant effort
Seeking a stronger European presence, Canada’s Valeant Pharmaceuticals acquires Switzerland-based PharmaSwiss for more than $500 millionTeva reaches into Peru for a purchase
Acquisition of Corporacion Infarmasa will expand Teva's Latin America presenceMerck takes the Lead in cancer drug development
Merck KgaA, Lead Discovery Centre sign cooperative agreement for anti- cancer compounds discoveryTaking some hits (in a good way)
Evotec to collaborate with Takeda Cambridge for multitarget hit identificationMoving to multicenter
Aushon BioSystems and Peking University Cancer Hospital collaborate on diagnostic biomarkers for liver metastases of colorectal cancerCompanies ink deals in India
QIAGEN, Daiichi Sankyo and Quintiles are latest companies to invest in this emerging marketDiagnostics
Danaher’s diagnostic deal
Acquisition-hungry company offers to acquire Beckman Coulter for about $6.8 billionOff the auction block
Novartis tenders all-cash offer for challenged Genoptix at $25 per shareDovetailing into diagnostics
PerkinElmer acquires chemagen Biopolymer-Technologie, the company’s partner for nucleic acid analysis, in effort to better serve the MDx marketActient Pharmaceuticals acquires Timm Medical Technologies
Timm’s second-tier erectile dysfunction remedy seen as key to the purchaseIn search of cures for ‘his and hers’ cancers
Nuclea Biotech teams with Boston Medical Center on biomarker developmentProbing cancer cells’ ‘ecosystem’
Pervasis Therapeutics, MIT sign patent license agreement to halt progression of cancer cellsResearch & Development
Rolling the dice with anti-cancer virus
Amgen to spend as much as $1 billion to acquire privately held biotech BioVex based on potential of oncology vaccineA marriage of convenience and passion
Ligand's purchase of CyDex ensures new revenue streams, fully funded partnerships and expanding cash-flow positive drug reformulation businessPfizer shines in Big Apple
Drugmaker announces that seven of New York City’s top research hospitals join Global Centers For Therapeutic InnovationEyes forward for AMD and more
Alexion acquires Taligen Therapeutics and creates Translational Medicine Group to accelerate development of expanded portfolioIn the army now
Concert Pharma and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research to evaluate neuroprotective drug compound derived from Concert’s deuterated chemical entity platformFeature
Putting an extra “e” in cancer research
American Association for Cancer Research puts Internet to work, with most sessions of AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011 to be webcastOrlando visitor highlights
Our coverage of just a few things you can do while you’re in the Orlando area for the AACR annual meetingCommentary
Using patient- relevant models to enhance cancer drug development
There is a growing need within the pharmaceutical and biotech industries for more “challenging” preclinical modeling for cancer drug development. It is essential to use patient-relevant models to evaluate the cancer medicines of the future in order to ensure that preclinical efficacy assessment is predictive of how the drug is likely to behave in clinical trials with cancer patients.Patent News
Stop me if you've heard this before: There’s a Patent Reform Act of 2011
The new legislation is intended to accomplish three primary goals: transition to a first-to-file system; improve patent quality; and provide more certainty in litigation.Editor's Focus
ddn readers explain the ‘brain drain’
In response to our February column, readers explain why students in foreign countries choose to advance their education on American soil, only to take their expertise and training abroad later.Instruments & Informatics
NuGEN and Caliper partner to eliminate NGS sample prep bottlenecks
Methods are being developed to enable high-throughput, automated extraction, amplification and preparation of difficult and compromised samples for next-generation sequencingCatching something good with QTRAP
Collaboration with ARUP Laboratories will use AB SCIEX tech platform to develop new clinical research methods for hormone analysisBusy month for IntegenX
Microsample prep company closes $15.6M financing round, acquires GenVault and signs two deals to accelerate commercialization of DNA profiling platformPrecision—not personalized—medicine
Avantra Biosciences teams with TD2 to speed drug developmentOmics & Systems Biology
Genomics for the win against cancer?
TGen and Genomic Health discover genes affecting cancer drug oxaliplatin, publishing paper calling for more research into mechanisms influencing the drug’s activitySetting the standard
European project sets goal of standardizing human genome sequencingPutting SMA on the map
Rules-Based Medicine’s MAP platform helps Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation reach biomarkers milestoneGovernment Watch
Senators urge FDA action on biologics approval
FDA poised to announce decisions on biologic generics’ entrance into marketScore one for hESC research
A second lawsuit challenging embryonic stem cell research is dismissed by federal appeals courtDrawing the web tighter
Q&A connects dots between FDA and social mediaA new player in drug research?
The proposed National Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences would help develop medicines, but is it feasible?
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