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Lilly reaffirms $3.00 per share purchase offer for SGX Pharmaceuticals

Eli Lilly and Company today reaffirmed that its $3.00 per share purchase offer for SGX Pharmaceutical, Inc. represents its best and final offer for the San Diego-based biotechnology company.

4 Aug 2008

Australian Alzheimer's trial published in the Lancet

Prana Biotechnology Limited announced today the publication of the results of its Phase 2a clinical trial on Alzheimer's disease patients in The Lancet Neurology journal.

29 Jul 2008

Alzheimer's disease patients show improvement in trial of new drug

A new drug has been shown to improve the brain function of people with early stage Alzheimer's disease and reduce a key protein associated with the disease in the spinal fluid, in a small study published today in the journal Lancet Neurology and presented at the 2008 Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease.

29 Jul 2008

New technique measures formation of clumps of proteins in protein-based pharmaceuticals

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a technique to measure the formation of clumps of proteins in protein-based pharmaceuticals.

23 Jul 2008

The brain under pressure: Bristol Neuroscience attracts BBSRC grant

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has awarded a grant of over £0.5 million to groups in the Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology and the MRC Centre for Synaptic Plasticity (project leader, Professor Kei Cho). The funding will support research into how brain cells maintain their performance, and create memories, during periods of acute stress.

23 Jul 2008

Fluoroquinolones can enhance gene-silencing tool

A way to turn off one gene at a time has earned acceptance in biology laboratories over the last decade. Doctors envision the technique, called RNA interference, as a tool to treat a variety of diseases if it can be adapted to humans.

20 Jul 2008

Superbug breakthrough

The week the government's chief medical officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, has announced that the NHS aims to create immunisation against two of the most common superbugs, MRSA and Clostridium difficile, within the next decade. But a research team led by University of Sunderland scientists has made a major breakthrough in the fight against a deadly hospital infection which kills tens of thousands of people every year, and it will be available within the next year.

17 Jul 2008

New British consortium to tackle healthcare associated infections

Just over 8% of all hospital inpatients in England develop a healthcare associated infection, with this figure rising to 23% in intensive care units. Preventing and controlling the transmission of infection is a key priority for those involved in healthcare.

16 Jul 2008

Neuron to publish Prana's PBT2 preclinical research on Alzheimer's disease

Prana Biotechnology Ltd. has announced the publication of key research findings with its lead Alzheimer's Disease drug, PBT2.

10 Jul 2008

Nanomaterials key to new strategies for blocking metastasis

A new treatment strategy using targeted nanoparticles to block metastasis with anti-cancer drugs leads to good results using significantly lower doses of toxic chemotherapy, with less collateral damage to surrounding tissue, according to a collaborative team of researchers at the Center of Nanotechnology for Treatment, Understanding, and Monitoring of Cancer at the University of California, San Diego. In designing this system, the investigators, led by David Cheresh, Ph.D., have identified what may become a generic method for using nanotechnology to target metastasis.

9 Jul 2008

Eli Lilly to buy SGX Pharmaceuticals

Eli Lilly and Company and SGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the companies have signed a definitive merger agreement providing for the acquisition of SGX in an all-cash transaction. SGX, based in San Diego, California, is a biotechnology company focused on drug discovery and development in the area of oncology.

8 Jul 2008

Transgenic tomatoes as edible vaccine carriers for Alzheimer's disease

The humble tomato could be a suitable carrier for an oral vaccine against Alzheimer's disease, according to HyunSoon Kim from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) in Korea and colleagues from Digital Biotech Inc. and the Department of Biological Science at Wonkwang University.

8 Jul 2008

Gene technique that alters CCR5-producing gene increases resistance to HIV in mice

Altering the gene that produces CCR5 protein on the surface of immune cells using a harmless virus was found to significantly increase resistance to HIV in mice, according to a study published Sunday in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the Press Trust of India reports (Press Trust of India, 7/1).

4 Jul 2008

New technique produces genetically identical stem cells

Adult cells of mice created from genetically reprogrammed cells-so-called induced pluripotent stem (IPS) stem cells-can be triggered via drug to enter an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, without the need for further genetic alteration.

1 Jul 2008

Electrostatic-based RNA assays technique could revolutionize medical diagnostics

The dream of personalized medicine - in which diagnostics, risk predictions and treatment decisions are based on a patient's genetic profile - may be on the verge of being expanded beyond the wealthiest of nations with state-of-the-art clinics.

30 Jun 2008

Zinc finger technology brings personalized HIV therapy a step closer

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and collaborators are using minute, naturally occurring proteins called zinc fingers to engineer T cells to one day treat AIDS in humans.

30 Jun 2008

Scientists challenge the public to predict the best way to control disease epidemics

Scientists will be challenging the public this week to pit their powers of prediction against the latest computer simulations. A brand new interactive exhibit will be displayed at the Royal Society's summer science exhibition that showcases the value of mathematical models in the fight to prevent and control diseases such as bluetongue.

30 Jun 2008

Dividing cells find their middle by following a protein contour map

Self-organization keeps schools of fish, flocks of birds and colonies of termites in sync. It's also, according to new research, the way cells regulate the final stage of cell division. Scientists at Rockefeller University have shown that a protein-chemistry-based contour map, which helps individual proteins locate the center of their cell without direction from a 'master organizer,' is key to ensuring accurate division during mitosis.

30 Jun 2008

Aventix Pharma takes over key patents for innovative screening tool for treatments for cystic fibrosis

The rights to key patents for an innovative screening tool for treatments for cystic fibrosis were transferred today to Swiss biotech company Axentis Pharma AG.

26 Jun 2008

Report finds 32% increase in drug industry lobbying spending in 2007

The pharmaceutical industry spent $168 million on lobbying in 2007, a 32% increase over the previous year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Center for Public Integrity, the Wall Street Journal reports.

26 Jun 2008