Biotechnology News and Research

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Research confirms that probiotic bacteria promotes health and boosts immune system

Functional food is the food industry's fastest-growing product group, its leading products including dairy products which contain probiotics, that is, bacteria promoting health. Valio's Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG®) is the most frequently studied and used probiotic.

5 Oct 2009

Pharma and biotech companies to assess new FDA REMS guidance

Yesterday, the FDA issued very important draft guidance for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for formatting, assessing and modifying Risk Evaluation & Mitigation Strategies (REMS) to ensure the safe use of pharmaceutical products.

5 Oct 2009

Diagnocure signs agreement with Lab21 for marketing its Previstage test

DiagnoCure Inc., a life sciences company commercializing high-value cancer diagnostic tests and delivering laboratory services, announced that it signed an exclusive agreement with a new partner, Lab21, a global provider of diagnostic products and services, for the promotion, marketing and selling of its Previstage(TM) GCC Colorectal Cancer Staging Test in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

5 Oct 2009

Genentech announces two Phase III study results of Lucentis

Genentech, Inc., a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group, today announced results from two Phase III studies of Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) in macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion (RVO), which showed, on average, patients given either of two doses of Lucentis had a clinically and statistically significant improvement in vision as measured by the primary endpoint of mean change from baseline in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at six months compared to patients receiving sham injections.

5 Oct 2009

The Lewin Group issues recommendations to overcome barriers obstructing the lupus drug development

Today, The Lewin Group, a national health care consulting firm, issued recommendations on ways to overcome the barriers that have obstructed lupus drug development resulting in no new drug approval for this disease in more than 50 years - since the Eisenhower Administration.

From CSL Ltd 5 Oct 2009

Researchers engineer antidotes for blood-thinner aptamers

Imagine a surgical patient on a blood-thinning drug who starts bleeding more than expected, and an antidote that works immediately - because the blood thinner and antidote were designed to work together. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have engineered a way to do this for an entire, versatile class of drugs called aptamers and published their findings in Nature Medicine.

4 Oct 2009

The EURORDIS and NORD rare disease organizations form a partnership

The leading advocacy groups for Americans and Europeans with rare diseases -- the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) and the European Organization for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS) -- have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to join forces on several key strategic initiatives on behalf of rare disease patients and their families.

3 Oct 2009

CHI announces its speaker lineup for the 2009 California Healthcare Policy Forum

California Healthcare Institute today announced its speaker lineup for the 2009 California Healthcare Policy Forum to be held Nov. 5, at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco Hotel, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

3 Oct 2009

JBAIDS approved by the military for H1N1 virus detection tests

Idaho Technology’s Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS) has been approved by the military to run tests for the H1N1 virus. Deployed across the globe, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, by all four branches of the military, the JBAIDS instrument will be used to test military personnel and their families for Influenza A, swine flu A and H1 swine flu in less than an hour.

3 Oct 2009

New strategic research service for the oncology market launched by Health Strategies Group

Health Strategies Group, a leading provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, has just launched Oncology Performance Edge, a new strategic research service that helps marketing and sales executives in the oncology field improve brand performance by understanding how best to invest their resources.

3 Oct 2009

Healthnostics re-designs its Biomedicine web portal

Healthnostics, Inc., a medical and biotechnology analytics company today delineated its strategy for the biomedical content layer of the re-design of its Biomedicine Web Portal, MedBioWorld.com.

3 Oct 2009

Avexa's ATC Phase III study concludes

Avexa Limited today announced that the apricitabine (ATC) Phase III study will be closed and the data will be subsequently unblinded and analyzed. After extensive interaction with the regulatory authorities and potential partners, the decision was made to evaluate the 24 week data with the results due in the first quarter of 2010.

3 Oct 2009

KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals presents its two Phase 2 clinical study results

KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (KYTHERA) today presented detailed results from two double-blind Phase 2 studies, each designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of ATX-101, a first-in-class injectable drug for the reduction of small volumes of fat.

3 Oct 2009

EMEA grants positive opinion for Baxter's CELVAPAN H1N1 pandemic vaccine

Baxter International Inc. today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) granted its “positive opinion” for CELVAPAN H1N1 pandemic vaccine using Baxter’s Vero cell technology. This positive opinion confirms the acceptability of Baxter’s regulatory submission to obtain final marketing authorization and licensure of the product.

From Baxter International Inc. 3 Oct 2009

Update from BioCryst Pharmaceuticals regarding antiviral peramivir

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX) today announced that the Office of the Secretary, Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has issued "HHS Secretary's Declaration for the Use of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act for the Influenza Antiviral Peramivir."

3 Oct 2009

Nutra Pharma manufactures first commercial batch of Cobroxin

Nutra Pharma Corp., a biotechnology company that is developing treatments for Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), HIV and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), has announced today that it has completed manufacturing the first commercial batch of Cobroxin and has successfully released it for final distribution.

3 Oct 2009

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals raises $115.7 million for general corporate purposes

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has closed its previously announced public offering of 3,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $34.50 per share.

3 Oct 2009

Co-marketing partnership between Enzo Life Sciences and BioTek Instruments

Enzo Biochem, Inc. announced today a co-marketing partnership between its Enzo Life Sciences subsidiary, a world leader in non-radioactive probe technology, and BioTek Instruments, a privately held global leader in the development, manufacture and sale of microplate instrumentation for drug discovery and life science applications, involving powerful, integrated solutions for high throughput live cell analysis.

3 Oct 2009

$7.2 million grant awarded to develop microbicide-releasing vaginal ring

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University a four-year, $7.2 million grant to develop a microbicide-releasing vaginal ring to prevent HIV transmission.

3 Oct 2009

Trimeris, Arigene sign merger agreement

Trimeris, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a merger agreement with Arigene Co., Ltd., a Korean corporation traded on the Korean Securities Dealers Association Quotation System (“Arigene”) (KOSDAQ: 067850) pursuant to which Arigene has agreed to acquire Trimeris for approximately $81 million through a cash tender offer of $3.60 per share, followed by a merger to acquire all remaining outstanding Trimeris shares at the same price per share paid in the tender offer.

2 Oct 2009