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September 2013 Volume 9, Issue 9

Volume 9, Issue 9 | September 2013

In this Issue

Special Reports

An eye to stem cell therapies (Stem Cell Special Report Part 1)

Despite the renewed research interests in stem cells, therapeutics push the market

An eye to stem cell therapies (Stem Cell Special Report Part 2)

Despite the renewed research interests in stem cells, therapeutics push the market

Global News

M&A madness

Pharma and biotech companies went on spending spree this summer

Impressing with immunotherapy

Bayer, Compugen join forces on antibody-based cancer therapeutics

Going straight for the value

Torrey Pines Investment and BioMotiv structure multimillion-dollar partnership for drug development

When biosimilars go bad

Teva, Lonza terminate biosimilars co-development agreement; other companies look to exit fast-growing market

Orphan Drug Act turns 30

CRO partnerships key for orphan drug development, says Rho

Government Watch

Pharmas face bribery charges in China

GSK, Sanofi and Lilly are suspected of issuing bribes to boost sales

Patent Docs: Does the Myriad decision presage a golden age of patent-free personalized medicine?

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Myriad decision has been almost universally hailed as being a great victory for patients, doctors, personalized medicine and research. Is this truly the case?

FTC vows to challenge pay-for-delay court settlements

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has vowed in a subcommittee to continue challenging pay-for-delay settlements

Keeping the fast lane open

Will FDA’s ‘breakthrough therapy’ designation really speed approval times?

An examination of exclusivity

Citizens’ petitions argue FDA should grant NCE exclusivity to combination drugs

Omics & Systems Biology

Shining new light on gene expression

Optogenetics allows researchers to ‘switch’ gene expression on and off in response to light pulses

Block and load

CRT, ICR and Merck Serono sign license deal on molecules to block WNT signaling pathway

A piece of the PCSK9 pie

Genomics research reveals PCSK9 gene’s LDL-lowering potential, ignites drug race

No mean feat

Major protein structure discovery achieved using TTP Labtech’s mosquito LCP

Form influences function

Research indicates that the shape of the genome significantly influences transcription regulation

Tools & Technology

Access to answers

Databases are designed to facilitate research for personalized cancer treatment

Sigma-Aldrich, TSRI partner to commercialize research reagents

Agreement marks first partnership of its kind between a research institution and reagents company

Off to the data mines

Pharma data mining is becoming a key piece of clinical trial success and personalized medicine

Best of both worlds

AB Sciex combines Eksigent chromatography with Beckman Coulter capillary electrophoresis to drive separations innovation

96 samples across 92 proteins in one microfluidic run

Fluidigm and Olink Bioscience will co-market Fluidigm’s BioMark HD system and Olink’s Proseek Multiplex technology

Commentary

Immuno-oncology: The importance of combination therapies

Immuno-oncology is gaining wide acceptance as a promising therapeutic strategy due to its unique potential to generate durable clinical responses in patients. Additionally, there has been a resulting proliferation of cancer immunotherapies in the clinical pipeline.

Out of Order: Inspired cynic

For a few days, at least, this grumpy old tech has regained a degree of excitement about what is out there and what is possible. It’s a good feeling, and one that I wish for everyone out there.

Editor's Focus

Ask, and science may receive

For decades, clinicians and researchers have been taking leftover cells, tissue, blood and organs from patients and using them in the name of advancing scientific and medical research. Tremendous gains have been realized from these leftovers, but each milestone has been marked by the unresolved issue of informed consent—because sometimes, these researchers are not asking patients if it’s OK to use their leftovers.

Products & Services

ELISA automation: IVD and non-IVD labs now have affordable solution to ease workflow

Hamilton Robotics has launched a new module for the Microlab STAR workstation that automates Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assays (ELISAs).

New standard for stem cell characterization

The TaqMan hPSC Scorecard Panel and accompanying software is a qPCR assay that provides an accurate confirmation of pluripotency and lineage bias for your hESCs and iPSCs in an easy-to-interpret scorecard.

IonWorks Barracuda Plus system for automated electrophysiology: Enhanced system enables widest assay windows

Molecular Devices has released the IonWorks Barracuda Plus system, with enhancements to produce best-in-class wide assay windows with stable ionic currents.

PrimePCR probe assays for human and mouse genomes

Bio-Rad has launched its new PrimePCR probe assays for qPCR that set the bar for specificity, sensitivity and linear dynamic range.

Superdex 200 increases size exclusion chromatography columns for higher resolution separation in shorter timescales

Superdex 200 with increased size exclusion chromatography columns is designed for both preparative and analytical purposes for a broad range of biomolecules, enabling higher purity and improved protein analysis.

RayShield Coupler makes accessible Raman data at low wavenumbers

WITec’s RayShield Coupler is now available for the alpha300 and alpha500 microscope series.

Simoa Single Molecule Array technology

Quanterix has unveiled its Single Molecule Array (Simoa) technology, making it commercially available for the first time on a fully automated platform for research use only.

Expanded water purification portfolio

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Barnstead GenPure xCAD Plus water purification system features advanced technology that allows simultaneous dispensing from three remote dispensers for exceptional flexibility and ease of use in shared laboratory environments.

TEM systems continue FEI’s emphasis on technology leadership while redefining its product portfolio

FEI introduced three new systems that tailor the power of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to specific application and industry needs.

Turnkey solution for CHO cell bioproduction

WHEATON and Irvine Scientific have collaborated to introduce a high-yield, small-scale solution for bioproduction.

Certara enhances SYBYL-X drug design and discovery software suite

Certara has released version 2.1 of its SYBYL-X molecular modeling and simulation suite.

Ceiba Solutions introduces Community Edition of Helium Data Workbench

Driving data efficiency in life sciences by connecting disparate datasets, Ceiba Solutions announced in August the expansion of its data analytics solution Helium with the introduction of its free, downloadable Community Edition.

Evado launches breakthrough new product, UniFORM

UniFORM is an application that streamlines other business applications into one.

Diagnostics

MDx goes toe-to-toe with Medicare/Medicaid

As testing labs’ financial results nosedive, a blue-ribbon coalition takes up the cause of fair compensation for advanced molecular diagnostics

Pushing back Alzheimer’s disease

Takeda and Zinfandel kick off Phase III trial for compound to delay onset of Alzheimer’s and to test predictive algorithm

Up to 65 cellular events on a single slide

Clarient’s MultiOmyx ‘allows precision medicine to become even more precise’

Narayana Nethralaya and MedGenome set up India’s first ‘multi-omics diagnostics lab’

Goal is to provide a complete, one-stop solution for diagnostic testing of every aspect of a disease at the molecular level

Feature

ASHG Annual Meeting: Beantown becomes Genetown

American Society of Human Genetics' annual meeting in Boston covers personalized medicine, whole-genome sequencing, the epigenome and much more

ASHG Annual Meeting: Beantown becomes Genetown (continued)

Continuing coverage of the ASHG annual meeting, plus photos of the host city

September 2013