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China's SFDA approves Affymetrix GeneChip System 3000Dx v.2

Affymetrix, Inc. today announced that its GeneChip System 3000Dx v.2 (GCS 3000Dx v.2) has been approved by China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) for in vitro diagnostic use.

16 Feb 2012

UC Cancer Institute to enroll up to 60 patients for AMG 595 phase-1 trial

The UC Cancer Institute is one of three centers internationally approved to test an experimental drug's safety and pharmacokinetics and also assess the clinical benefit against recurrent malignant glioma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

16 Feb 2012

Virginia Tech professor to receive Costa Rica's 2011 National Technology Prize

Pablo Sobrado, assistant professor of biochemistry at Virginia Tech, has been awarded Costa Rica's 2011 National Technology Prize, administered by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

16 Feb 2012

Combination of therapeutic cancer vaccines and chemotherapy shows promise

Therapeutic cancer vaccines, which stimulate the body's immune system to target and destroy cancer cells, are being used in combination with conventional chemotherapy with growing success, as described in several illuminating articles in Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

16 Feb 2012

Biological scaffold for heart valves can be freeze-dried for later use

The biological scaffold that gives structure to a heart valve after its cellular material has been removed can be freeze-dried and stored for later use as a tissue-engineered replacement valve to treat a failing heart, as described in an article in Tissue Engineering, Part C: Methods, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..

15 Feb 2012

World Economic Forum releases list of 'Important Technologies'

The World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies has just released its list of "Important Technologies" that will change the world in the years ahead. The list highlights technology trends most likely to impact on the state of the world in the near future and was developed by a cross section of experts from science, businesses, and public policy.

15 Feb 2012

Greenest supercomputer to advance study of human disease

Victoria will be home to one of Australia's fastest supercomputers and the world's greenest supercomputer, the IBM Blue Gene/Q, which will be housed at the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI) hosted by the University of Melbourne, and is aimed at advancing the study of human disease.

15 Feb 2012

Mass spectroscopy identifies total of 1,210 UCB proteins

Blood tests have been a mainstay of diagnostic medicine since the late 19th century, offering a wealth of information concerning health and disease. Nevertheless, blood derived from the human umbilical cord has yet to be fully mined for its vital health information, according to Rolf Halden, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute.

15 Feb 2012

Teva fourth quarter net revenues increase 28% to $5.7 billion

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. today reported results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2011.

15 Feb 2012

Gaming and technology may help control weight and promote health in children

Children are naturally drawn toward gaming and other types of technology, creating an ideal opportunity to design interactive media tools to encourage physical activity and promote healthy eating habits, according to an article in a special issue of the journal Childhood Obesity celebrating the second anniversary of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative.

14 Feb 2012

Ensysce announces latest data on delivery platform for therapeutic siRNA

Ensysce Biosciences Inc. announced today the publication of their latest data on their delivery platform for short interfering RNA (siRNA) for therapeutic purposes in the journal Materials.

14 Feb 2012

Agilent's microarrays used in landmark study on prenatal samples

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced its microarrays were used in a landmark research study on prenatal samples. The three-year study was designed to evaluate the accuracy, efficacy and potential advantages of using microarray analysis as compared with conventional karyotyping. Agilent SurePrint CGH microarrays and analysis software were used for the majority sample cohort of 4,400 samples.

14 Feb 2012

Alnylam commences underwritten public offering of 7,000,000 shares of common stock

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 7,000,000 shares of its common stock. All of these shares are being sold by Alnylam.

14 Feb 2012

Fluidigm announces availability of Access Array Barcode Library for Ion Torrent PGM

Fluidigm Corporation today announced the availability of the Access Array Barcode Library for the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) sequencer. This barcode library allows multiplexing of up to 96 different samples in a single sequencing run.

13 Feb 2012

Third patient dosed in Phase 1/2 SMD trial using RPE cells derived from hESCs

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today the dosing of third patient in its Phase 1/2 trial for Stargardt's macular dystrophy (SMD) using retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).

13 Feb 2012

DARPA awards fourth milestone payment of $3.56M to Medicago

Medicago USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Medicago Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced it has received the fourth milestone payment of US$3.56 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

13 Feb 2012

Tiltan initiates TL-118 Phase 2 clinical trial for pancreatic cancer

Tiltan Pharma Ltd. today announced that it has commenced a Phase 2 clinical trial of its anti-angiogenic product TL-118 for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

13 Feb 2012

BIO President issues statement on FDA guidance for biosimilars

Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim Greenwood issued the following statement regarding the newly released U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance for the review and approval of biosimilars.

13 Feb 2012

FDA lays guidelines for “biosimilar” biotech drugs

The proposed rules, issued on Thursday, require studies showing that the generic copies are “highly similar” to the originals, but there are several ways that might be proven. Because of their complexity, generic copies of biotech drugs - first introduced in the 1980s - are known as “biosimilars.” The worldwide market for copies of biotech medicines will grow to $3.7 billion by 2015, from just $243 million in 2010, as more than 30 branded biologics with sales of $51 billion lose patent exclusivity, according to market analysis firm Datamonitor.

12 Feb 2012

Exelixis prices underwritten public offering of common stock

Exelixis, Inc. today announced the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 11,000,000 shares of newly issued common stock at a price to the public of $5.50 per share.

10 Feb 2012