October 2014- Volume 10, Issue 10
October 2014
In this Issue
Preclinical
Wiping out C. difficile
Wiping out C. difficile
Synthetic Biologics soon to initiate clinical trials of SYN-004 for deadly C. diff. infections
Reaching for results
Reaching for results
Seattle Genetics and Genmab create new ADC collaboration, adding to Genmab’s preclinical pipeline
Sage presents new preclinical data on antiepileptic drug
Sage presents new preclinical data on antiepileptic drug
Data highlighted at Eilat Conference underscore potential of SAGE-217 to address acute and chronic forms of epilepsy and other seizure disorders
A printable model for liver disease
A printable model for liver disease
Organovo designs and creates functional, 3D human tissues for medical research and therapeutic applications
Business & Government Policy
Delving into duvelisib
Delving into duvelisib
Infinity, AbbVie link up to develop Infinity’s PI3K-delta/gamma inhibitor in oncology
Lysosomal storage disease could be an attractive market
Lysosomal storage disease could be an attractive market
According to Thomson Reuters, there is economic power in ultra-orphan disease therapies
Attaching the umbilical cord
Attaching the umbilical cord
Novartis invests $35M in Gamida Cell with eye on stem cell therapies
On the cutting edge
On the cutting edge
A roundup of instrumentation, software and other tools and technology news
Sitting pretty for $17 billion?
Sitting pretty for $17 billion?
Merck KGaA acquiring Sigma-Aldrich to enhance position in increasingly attractive life-sciences market
Clinical Trials
A new way to go after breast cancer
A new way to go after breast cancer
Spanish lab finds promise in fighting breast cancer with experimental drug nintedanib
Two is better than one
Two is better than one
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene deliver one-two punch to beat breast cancer
Looking good
Looking good
Clinical trial shows potential for Auxilium’s CCH for treating cellulite
Nymox’s prostate cancer candidate progressing apace
Nymox’s prostate cancer candidate progressing apace
NX-1207 continues to show an encouraging safety profile in prostate cancer and BPH
Cognitive computing in the clinic
Cognitive computing in the clinic
Mayo Clinic and IBM to apply Watson to clinical trial enrollment
Research & Development
Neighbor helping neighbor
Neighbor helping neighbor
Janssen, J&J Innovation serve as catalysts for neuroscience research with University of Toronto on Alzheimer’s disease study
Enter the zebrafish
Enter the zebrafish
CQDM and OCE co-fund neuroscience research collaboration
Two against endometriosis
Two against endometriosis
SRI International and Nobelpharma partner on endometriosis drug development
Getting social to report adverse drug reactions
Getting social to report adverse drug reactions
U.K. agency leads EU project on the use of smartphones and social media for drug safety information
Lucigen and Thermo Fisher team up on next-gen sequencing
Lucigen and Thermo Fisher team up on next-gen sequencing
Lucigen Corp. and Thermo Fisher Scientific announced in late August that they would partner to release new mate pair library technology for Ion Torrent sequencing
Diagnostics
Moving to a multiplayer game
Moving to a multiplayer game
Illumina strikes several partnerships to advance oncology diagnostics to panel-based assays
Collaboration to combat cancer
Collaboration to combat cancer
Team develops molecular diagnostic tests in tandem with targeted therapeutics
PDI enters molecular diagnostics market
PDI enters molecular diagnostics market
Acquires thyroid and pancreatic cancer tests as first step toward creation of a molecular diagnostics force in Interpace Diagnostics
CGI diagnostics added to online test database
CGI diagnostics added to online test database
Genetic Testing Registry now contains 40 of Cancer Genetics’ proprietary tests
Discovery
Aphios scores grant for green drug discovery technology
Aphios scores grant for green drug discovery technology
SBIR grant will fund development of prototype tech to unearth potential therapeutic chemicals in biomass
Welcome to Discovery Park
Welcome to Discovery Park
New facilities will house drug discovery and bioscience centers
New agreement with Schrödinger a ‘game-changer’
New agreement with Schrödinger a ‘game-changer’
Schrödinger and Tri-I TDI launch a joint agreement to boost early-stage research by young researchers
Brain cells from skin
Brain cells from skin
Researcher awarded £900,000 to develop an innovative new way to screen potential new treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s
Carving out new cancer territory
Carving out new cancer territory
Blueprint Medicines announces discovery of novel oncology drug targets
Q&A
Q&A: ‘Making cancer history’
Q&A: ‘Making cancer history’
DDNews speaks with Dr. Philip Lorenzi about how MD Anderson Cancer Center guides drug discovery and development via enhanced targets and biomarkers
Commentary
Guest Commentary: Factors impacting genome editing success and failure--A focus on cell lines
Guest Commentary: Factors impacting genome editing success and failure--A focus on cell lines
The ability to create isogenic cell lines in which the genome editing event is the sole differentiator between the phenotypes of two cells is a powerful tool. Despite all the recent developments and improvements in targeting platforms, certain challenges remain, and the role played by the choice of cell line in order to achieve success cannot be overstated.
Peer review and the life sciences
Peer review and the life sciences
In an era of "publish or perish," combined with "fund or perish," we may be moving toward an era in which peer review is no longer up to the task, and we end up with too many journals and too little rigor
Editor's Focus
The business of reducing obesity
The business of reducing obesity
The effort to reduce obesity (and to profit from that effort) isn’t anything new, but based on my email inbox recently, perhaps we’re about to enter into an era of blockbuster weight-management medications. For the moment, however, we’re at the early stages of any such race, and it looks like Novo Nordisk and Orexigen are fighting for the strong start out of the gate.
Feature
A Capitol affair
A Capitol affair
Society for Neuroscience stays in its own backyard for this year’s annual meeting, looking to host more than 30,000 attendees
