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.

Beta-Pro expands operations to meet increasing demand in $2 billion hepatocyte market

Beta-Pro LLC, announced today that it has expanded its operations to accommodate increasing demands from pharmaceutical drug discovery and research institutes in the $2 billion hepatocyte market. The human cellular sciences company now manages extensive laboratory facilities in the University of Virginia Research Park in Charlottesville, Virginia.

13 Oct 2010

USPTO grants HemoShear patent for human cell-based surrogate systems

HemoShear LLC, a biotechnology research company and leading developer of human cell-based surrogate systems for discovery and assessment of new drug compounds, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted it patent no. 7,811,782 entitled "Use of An In Vitro Hemodynamic Endothelial/Smooth Muscle Cell Co-Culture Model to Identify New Therapeutic Targets for Vascular Disease."

13 Oct 2010

Cellectis bioresearch establishes US subsidiary

Cellectis bioresearch, a specialist in genome customization and subsidiary of Cellectis, today announced that it has established a US subsidiary, Cellectis bioresearch Inc. Located at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cellectis bioresearch Inc. will be responsible for the US-wide promotion of Cellectis bioresearch products and services.

13 Oct 2010

ArQule and Daiichi Sankyo expand collaboration to produce drug candidates for cancer

ArQule, Inc. and Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. today announced the expansion of their research, development and license agreement for the discovery of novel kinase inhibitors in the field of oncology. This expanded agreement establishes a third therapeutic target, with an option for a fourth, in the field of oncology, and it includes a two-year extension based on the application of the proprietary ArQule Kinase Inhibitor Platform (AKIP™) technology.

12 Oct 2010

Scripps Research study findings could transform drug development to produce more effective treatments

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered new evidence that challenges the current theory about a process key to the way modern drugs are designed and how they work in the human body.

12 Oct 2010

Synosia announces $30M Series C financing

Synosia Therapeutics, a privately held biotherapeutics company focused on neurology and psychiatry, today announced that it has raised $30M in a Series C financing round.

12 Oct 2010

UCB, Synosia Therapeutics announce new strategic partnership in neurology

UCB and Synosia Therapeutics announced today a new strategic partnership in neurology. Synosia has granted UCB a license for exclusive, worldwide rights to the development compound SYN-115 and rights to a second compound, SYN-118, for non-orphan indications. Both are in Phase II clinical development for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

12 Oct 2010

MorphoSys and Proteros Biostructures receive research grant to develop new technology platform for structure-based engineering of antibodies

MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) and Proteros Biostructures announced today that they have been awarded a grant by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF. The funding of approximately EUR 850,000 supports both companies in establishing a new technology platform for efficient structural characterization of antibody-antigen-complexes.

12 Oct 2010

BioSystem Development completes $978,000 investment round

BioSystem Development, a privately held life science analytics company, announces a recently completed investment round that raised $978,000 (USD) in funding. The proceeds will be used to expand manufacturing infrastructure and to launch new products into the biopharmaceutical development market.

12 Oct 2010

NIH awards La Jolla Institute $12.6M to develop San Diego's first Center for RNAi screening

The La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology will develop San Diego's first Center for RNAi screening -- a breakthrough genomics technology that will further enhance San Diego's reputation as a national research leader and provide the local biomedical community ready access to the Nobel-Prize winning technology.

11 Oct 2010

Takeda, Envoy enter three-year research alliance to develop schizophrenia drug

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global pharmaceutical company, and Envoy Therapeutics Inc., a recently formed drug discovery company, today announced that they have formed a three-year research alliance aimed at discovering drugs for schizophrenia that will have greater efficacy and safety compared to current therapies.

11 Oct 2010

Biologists determine three-dimensional structure of molecule involved in HIV, cancer

In a technical tour de force, structural biologists funded by the National Institutes of Health have determined the three-dimensional structure of a molecule involved in HIV infection and in many forms of cancer. The high-resolution structure sheds light on how the molecule functions and could point to ways to control its activity, potentially locking out HIV and stalling cancer's spread.

8 Oct 2010

ACEA, Vivo Biosciences collaborate to develop cell-based assays for xCELLigence System

ACEA Biosciences Inc. and Vivo Biosciences Inc. announced that they have entered into a collaboration for the further development of label-free and real-time cell based assays for the xCELLigence System, which is co-developed by Roche and ACEA and marketed by Roche Applied Science.

6 Oct 2010

MRF explores ways to accelerate medical research with online gaming technology

The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), a non-profit medical research foundation known for its pioneering Accelerated Research Collaboration (ARC) model, is taking a lesson from online game developers to explore creative ways to accelerate the pace of medical research and shorten the time to market for new medicines.

6 Oct 2010

Study may lend insight about hallucination mechanism in schizophrenia

Scripps Research Institute scientists have shown for the first time that the neurotransmitter serotonin uses a specialized signaling pathway to mediate biological functions that are distinct from the signaling pathways used by hallucinogenic substances. The new findings could have a profound effect on the development of new therapies for a number of disorders, including schizophrenia and depression.

6 Oct 2010

Lixte, NCI collaborate for clinical evaluation of LB-100 compound

Lixte Biotechnology Holdings announced today that the National Cancer Institute Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) Program Senior Advisory Committee (SAC), Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), signed a NExT Material Transfer Agreement formalizing a collaboration with Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. for clinical evaluation of LB-100, one of Lixte's lead anti-cancer compounds.

6 Oct 2010

GE Healthcare launches first human cellular assay product

Geron Corporation today announced that GE Healthcare has launched the first human cellular assay product for use in drug discovery and toxicity screening, developed under a license and alliance agreement between the two companies.

5 Oct 2010

Asterand to supply clinically annotated human biospecimens for The Cancer Genome Atlas project

Asterand plc, a leading provider of human tissue and human tissue-based services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in drug discovery research announced today that it has been awarded a 5-year, up to $24.3 million contract with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to supply clinically annotated human biospecimens for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project.

5 Oct 2010

Evotec enters multiple target drug discovery collaboration with Shionogi

Evotec AG today announced that it has entered into a multiple target drug discovery collaboration with Shionogi & Co Ltd., to identify small molecule modulators of various protein-protein interaction targets.

5 Oct 2010

Gentel Biosciences, RayBiotech to develop antibody array products with APiX chromogenic detection platform

Gentel Biosciences, a leader in proteomics profiling tools and RayBiotech, Inc., a pioneer and leader in protein and antibody array technologies, jointly announce today their partnership to develop and market RayBiotech's vast collection of antibody array products covering a wide variety of cytokines and other proteins for use with Gentel's APiX chromogenic detection platform.

5 Oct 2010

Drug Discovery News and Research

Further Reading

Beta-Pro expands operations to meet increasing demand in $2 billion hepatocyte market

USPTO grants HemoShear patent for human cell-based surrogate systems

Cellectis bioresearch establishes US subsidiary

ArQule and Daiichi Sankyo expand collaboration to produce drug candidates for cancer

Scripps Research study findings could transform drug development to produce more effective treatments

Synosia announces $30M Series C financing

UCB, Synosia Therapeutics announce new strategic partnership in neurology

MorphoSys and Proteros Biostructures receive research grant to develop new technology platform for structure-based engineering of antibodies

BioSystem Development completes $978,000 investment round

NIH awards La Jolla Institute $12.6M to develop San Diego's first Center for RNAi screening

Takeda, Envoy enter three-year research alliance to develop schizophrenia drug

Biologists determine three-dimensional structure of molecule involved in HIV, cancer

ACEA, Vivo Biosciences collaborate to develop cell-based assays for xCELLigence System

MRF explores ways to accelerate medical research with online gaming technology

Study may lend insight about hallucination mechanism in schizophrenia

Lixte, NCI collaborate for clinical evaluation of LB-100 compound

GE Healthcare launches first human cellular assay product

Asterand to supply clinically annotated human biospecimens for The Cancer Genome Atlas project

Evotec enters multiple target drug discovery collaboration with Shionogi

Gentel Biosciences, RayBiotech to develop antibody array products with APiX chromogenic detection platform

Drug Discovery - Second Edition eBook

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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