March 2013 Volume 9, Issue 3
Volume 9, Issue 3 | March 2013
March 2013
In this Issue
Global News
A breakup worth billons
Biogen Idec purchases Elan’s share in Tysabri franchise for more than $3 billion; Elan is already entertaining acquisition offersAddressing a growing need
Galapagos acquires Cangenix for $1.5 millionEuropean Lead Factory launched
Public-private partnership aims to accelerate early drug discoveryResistance really is futile
European partnership aims to re-enable antibiotics against resistant bacteriaUber-antibiotic duo
Sweden’s Pergamum collaborates with India’s Cadila Pharmaceuticals to develop novel peptides to treat infectionsResearch & Development
Safer drugs, better cancer care
NanoSmart Pharmaceuticals and UCLA enter collaboration agreement for pediatric cancer drug developmentMAP leads to pot of gold
Allergan subsidiary, MAP Pharmaceuticals merger could be worth nearly $1 billionMarriage for MS treatment
Merck Serono and Opexa Therapeutics enter into $225 million drug development agreementCanada continues stem cell tradition
Toronto’s Stem Cell Therapeutics, Trillium propose merge to develop new drugs to combat AML, other cancersMaxing out with GVAX
Aduro acquires cancer vaccine assets from BioSante for $1 millionOmics & Systems Biology
Meddling with medulloblastoma
Trio unites to seek metastasis biomarkers for common childhood brain tumorsHeart-smart commercialization
Collaboration targets R&D of RNAi compound to treat cholesterol issuesIt’s only logical
King’s College London, Emerald Logic seek to develop predictive, discriminative Alzheimer’s modelDrawing a better map
New technique pinpoints protein locations, helping scientists figure out their functions in live cellsGlycomics on the map
Kyowa Hakko Kirin to fund projects exploiting Ezose’s GlycanMap technologyCommentary
A genome’s got to know its limitations
Although we are believers in genomics, we suspect that it will take the conventional 20 years or so between investment in research and commercial exploitation. We also feel that application of genomics to healthcare delivery will take place by a large number of small steps, and not as a big bang. In short, a genome’s got to know its limitations.Out of Order: Didn’t see that coming
Too often, the industry’s hands appear to be tied when it comes to providing target markets with information, as regulatory agencies and advertising counsels argue that consumers aren’t capable of digesting this information. I think we’re not giving today’s consumers enough credit.Editor's Focus
Cancer patients: The heart of the matter
If you’re in a position to create treatments for cancer, what’s the silver bullet for you? Is it creating a safe and effective blockbuster drug that brings in the revenue your company needs to continue work on future drugs? Is it an altruistic quest for a cure?Special Reports
‘Good enough’ is no longer good enough
Trends in Cancer Research feature report Part 1 of 2: Aiming beyond the standard of care in oncologyGovernment Watch
The USPTO uncertainty principle
Effects of changes in U.S. patent regime may take years to be fully understood, adjudicatedFDA on a hot streak
U.S. regulators approved a record number of new drugs in 2012Taking it to the states
Pharmas and biotechs lobby state legislatures to limit generics, biosimilarsDiagnostics
A deeper companionship
QIAGEN and Lilly enter into expanded collaboration relationship to develop and commercialize companion diagnosticsWhen East meets West
Vela, Jefferson to combine experience for the development of molecular diagnostic assaysAssay for AD
Amorfix and QPS to collaborate on Alzheimer’s disease projectJPT Peptide, Institute for Medical Immunology partner on chronic fatigue syndrome
JPT Peptide Technologies GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of BioNTech AG, and the Institute for Medical Immunology at the Charité in Berlin recently announced a collaborative agreement to develop serological peptide markers for the differential diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)Feature
A capitol idea -- AACR 2013 conference preview
AACR’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., offers chance for education, networking and a public call for policy changesA capitol idea -- AACR 2013 conference preview (Part 2)
More information about the annual meeting and more photos from Washington, D.C.Tools & Technology
End-to-end workflow
Life Technologies acquires BAC, expands bioprocessing protein purification workflowDealing with the data
Curie- Cancer, GenoSplice to target cancer genomics data via bioinformaticsA P4 partnership
The Institute for Systems Biology and AB SCIEX partner to make medical care more ‘predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory’Adding new dimensions
Organovo and OHSU Knight Cancer Institute collaborate on biological models for cancer drug discovery and development
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