Drug Discovery News and Research

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The drug discovery process begins with recognizing a disease or clinical condition in which there is a lack of adequate medical treatment. Once a potential drug has been identified, pre-clinical research can begin. This process includes several stages; the first of which involves identifying and validating the prospective drug’s target through assay development, high throughput screening, hit identification and finally, lead optimization. Once the pre-clinical process is complete, the newly synthesized drug candidate is selected for future clinical development.

Johnson & Johnson second-quarter sales increase 0.6% to $15.3 billion

Johnson & Johnson today announced sales of $15.3 billion for the second quarter of 2010, an increase of 0.6% as compared to the second quarter of 2009. Operational results increased 0.1% and the positive impact of currency was 0.5%. Domestic sales declined 2.8%, while international sales increased 4.1%, reflecting operational growth of 3.0% and a positive currency impact of 1.1%.

20 Jul 2010

Rottapharm Madaus, Selvita sign drug discovery services contract

Rottapharm Madaus and Selvita announced today signature of a services contract for delivery of drug discovery services. The aim of this project is to deliver to Rottapharm Madaus a set of designed and synthesized compounds, including their optimized synthesis route, which will have a therapeutic potential in an indicated area.

20 Jul 2010

Epizyme publishes two new review papers on epigenetics

Epizyme, Inc., a company leading the discovery and development of first-in-class, targeted cancer therapeutics against epigenetic targets, announced today the publication of two new review papers in the area of epigenetics. Together, the articles provide an overview of the major epigenetic enzyme classes, as well as chemical biology approaches for discovering small molecule inhibitors of these epigenetic enzymes, and demonstrate Epizyme's scientific leadership in the area of epigenetics.

17 Jul 2010

An overview of AAPM annual meeting

AAPM is the premier organization in medical physics, a broadly-based scientific and professional discipline encompassing physics principles and applications in medicine and biology. Its membership includes medical physicists who specialize in research that develops cutting-edge technologies and board-certified clinical medical physicists who apply these technologies in community hospitals, clinics, and academic medical centers.

16 Jul 2010

Lab-on-Bead technology helps researchers cut years from drug development

New research accepted by the Journal of Molecular Recognition confirms that a revolutionary technology developed at Wake Forest University will slash years off the time it takes to develop drugs - bringing vital new treatments to patients much more quickly.

16 Jul 2010

Variations in quality of illegal Class B drug mephedrone could risk safety of users

Pharmaceutical scientists have discovered that the recently reclassified drug mephedrone varies in quality so much that users could be at risk of overdosing. Six samples were tested in the University of Sunderland's labs by Dr John Lough and his team, and although impurities levels were low, three samples revealed various particle size and crystalline form, which means that the drug is more likely to vary in its affect and safety on the user.

15 Jul 2010

NIH awards $38.2M grant to Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science

In support of a critical partnership between Georgetown University Medical Center and Howard University, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $38.2 million Clinical and Translational Sciences Award to aid the universities' effort to transform health care and preventive practices in communities through medical discoveries made in laboratories and clinical settings.

15 Jul 2010

Evotec to acquire DeveloGen

Evotec AG today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire DeveloGen, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of metabolic and endocrine disorders, for up to €14m in shares plus performance-related deferred payments (earn-out).

15 Jul 2010

Trevena completes $35M Series B financing

Trevena, Inc., the leader in discovery and development of G-protein coupled receptor biased ligands, announced today that it has completed a $35 million Series B financing. Existing investors Polaris Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates led the round, with all other existing Trevena investors - Alta Partners, Healthcare Ventures and Yasuda Enterprise Development Company - also participating in the financing.

14 Jul 2010

Highlights of AAPM 52nd meeting

The 52nd meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) convenes from July 18 - 22, 2010 in Philadelphia, PA.

14 Jul 2010

CRT, MRCT to swap medical discoveries to advance translation of scientific research

Cancer Research Technology and Medical Research Council Technology will 'swap' medical discoveries to accelerate the translation of early scientific research into patient benefit.

14 Jul 2010

LLS awards two new grants through prestigious Marshall A. Lichtman SCOR research initiative

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society today announced it has awarded two new grants through its prestigious Marshall A. Lichtman Specialized Center of Research research initiative, bringing the program's total funding to $210.5 million since its inception in 2000.

13 Jul 2010

Amorfix Life Sciences uses A(4) test to detect accumulation of Abeta in mouse models of AD

Amorfix Life Sciences, a company focused on treatments and diagnostics for misfolded protein diseases including Alzheimer's disease, has used its A(4) test to compare the rate of accumulation of aggregated Abeta in the brain tissue of various mouse models of AD. Amorfix presented this new data at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease this week.

13 Jul 2010

Common SNP in sequence of human genome conferring risk of vascular diseases discovered

Scientists at deCODE genetics and academic colleagues from the Netherlands and twelve other countries across Europe and North America today report the discovery of a common single-letter variation (SNP) in the sequence of the human genome conferring risk of a range of vascular diseases. The SNP confers risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), early-onset heart attack, peripheral artery disease (PAD), and pulmonary embolism, independent of other known risk factors.

12 Jul 2010

MRC Technology, Genentech sign licensing agreement

MRC Technology (UK) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Genentech, Inc., a wholly owned member of the Roche Group for an exclusive licence to a series of small molecule drug candidates for the potential treatment of neurological disease.

12 Jul 2010

New methods may help identify early signs of Alzheimer's disease: Study

Abnormal brain images combined with examination of the composition of the fluid that surrounds the spine may offer the earliest signs identifying healthy older adults at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, well before cognitive problems emerge, a study by researchers at UC Davis has found.

12 Jul 2010

UKPTO grants arGEN-X patent covering SIMPLE Antibody platform

arGEN-X, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of human monoclonal antibodies using its proprietary SIMPLE Antibody(TM) platform, announces that it has been granted the first patent covering the platform. The patent GB2461546B, has been granted by the UK Patent and Trademark Office (UKPTO).

9 Jul 2010

iPierian announces closing of $22M Series B equity financing round

iPierian, Inc., the leading biopharmaceutical company using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for drug discovery, today announced the closing of a $22 million Series B equity financing. The financing round was led by new investor Google Ventures, and was joined by Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and ATEL Ventures. All current investors also participated, including: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Highland Capital Partners, MPM Capital and FinTech Global Capital.

9 Jul 2010

Infinity obtains global rights to Intellikine's portfolio of inhibitors of delta and gamma isoforms of PI3K

Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an innovative drug discovery and development company, and Intellikine, Inc., a leader in the development of small molecule drugs targeting the PI3K/mTOR pathway, today announced an agreement under which Infinity obtained global development and commercialization rights to Intellikine's portfolio of inhibitors of the delta and gamma isoforms of phosphoinositide-3-kinase.

8 Jul 2010

Calithera Biosciences completes Series A financing totaling $40M

Calithera Biosciences, a company developing novel oncology therapeutics, today announced the completion of a Series A financing totaling $40 million. Morgenthaler Ventures led the financing with U.S. Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Delphi Ventures and Mission Bay Capital also participating in the round. The capital will be used to support the company's pioneering efforts to develop activators of caspases, the proteases that promote apoptotic cell death, for the treatment of cancer and other proliferative diseases.

8 Jul 2010