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Clarient announces acquisition of Applied Genomics

Clarient, Inc., a premier technology and services resource for pathologists, oncologists and the pharmaceutical industry, today announced that it has acquired privately held, Huntsville, AL-based Applied Genomics, Inc. (AGI) in an all-stock merger valued at up to $17.6 million, if all conditions and milestones set forth in the merger agreement are successfully met.

21 Dec 2009

Treprostinil drug reduces breathlessness in PAH patients, says study

Patients with a rare, deadly disease that mostly affects young women felt a dramatic reduction in breathlessness using an approved drug, according to study results published online today in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.

18 Dec 2009

Four commonly used chemotherapy drugs disrupt birth of new brain cells, shows study

Researchers have developed a novel animal model showing that four commonly used chemotherapy drugs disrupt the birth of new brain cells, and that the condition could be partially reversed with the growth factor IGF-1.

18 Dec 2009

Therapure Biopharma to fill/finish nimotuzumab at its Canadian GMP certified fill suite

David Allan, Chairman and CEO of YM BioSciences Inc. and Thomas Wellner, President and CEO of Therapure Biopharma Inc. today announced the signing of an agreement under which Therapure Biopharma will provide fill and finish services for nimotuzumab, the humanized monoclonal antibody licensed to YM's majority-owned Canadian subsidiary, CIMYM BioSciences Inc., by the Centre of Molecular Immunology (CIM).

17 Dec 2009

FDA Advisory Committee votes against the approval of Tarceva

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Genentech, Inc., a wholly owned member of the Roche Group, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 12 to one recommending against approval of the daily pill Tarceva® (erlotinib) for first-line maintenance use in people with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose cancer has not progressed (grown or spread) following first-line treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy.

17 Dec 2009

Avastin may lose significant patient share to Sanofi-Aventis' BSI-201, according to report

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that an overall survival benefit would be the most influential factor for three-quarters of surveyed European oncologists in their decision to prescribe a novel agent ahead of Avastin for the treatment of breast cancer.

16 Dec 2009

UCLA researchers find link between brain cancer and fatty acid synthesis

Inhibiting fatty acid synthesis in brain cancer cells may offer a new option to treat about 50 percent of deadly glioblastomas that are driven by amplified signaling of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), according to a first-of-its-kind study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

16 Dec 2009

Cellular and subcellular effects of PACE technology presented

SANUWAVE Health, Inc., (www.sanuwave.com), an emerging medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of non-invasive, biological response activating devices in the regenerative medicine area, announced that the cellular and subcellular effects of PACE™ technology were described during a lecture presented this past weekend.

15 Dec 2009

ProChon Biotech announces expansion of BioCart Cartilage Regeneration System study

ProChon Biotech, Ltd., an innovator of tissue regenerative technologies that are being developed to relieve pain and restore the mobility and quality of life for sufferers of articular cartilage injuries, today announced a significant expansion of its clinical study of the BioCart™ Cartilage Regeneration System.

15 Dec 2009

Preclinical graft study supports Cytori’s proposed mechanism of action

Cytori Therapeutics reported results from a preclinical cell-enriched fat grafting study supporting the safety and efficacy of Cytori’s method for enriching fat grafts with adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs).

14 Dec 2009

Pfizer announces results from studies evaluating neratinib

Pfizer Inc. today announced results from studies evaluating neratinib (HKI-272), an investigational, orally administered, pan-ErbB inhibitor, in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2, also known as ErbB2) positive breast cancer at the 2009 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

14 Dec 2009

Lapatinib plus trastuzumab extend lives of HER2-positive breast cancer patients

Lapatinib plus trastuzumab are significantly better than lapatinib alone in extending the lives of breast cancer patients whose tumors are HER2-positive, according to Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center.

12 Dec 2009

Cell transplants may yield new therapies for dementia patients

Nerve cells transplanted into brain-damaged rats helped them to fully recover their ability to learn and remember, probably by promoting nurturing, protective growth factors, according to a new study.

10 Dec 2009

Researchers investigate bone pathology

The best way to prevent a fracture is to stop bones from reaching the point where they are prone to breaking, but understanding the process of how bones form and mature has been challenging. Now researchers at the University of Houston department of health and human performance have created a process that grows real human bone in tissue culture, which can be used to investigate how bones form and grow.

10 Dec 2009

Mouse study suggests response to injury-induced growth factors can be revived

Brain and spinal-cord injuries typically leave people with permanent impairment because the injured nerve fibers (axons) cannot regrow. A study from Children's Hospital Boston, published in the December 10 issue of the journal Neuron, shows that axons can regenerate vigorously in a mouse model when a gene that suppresses natural growth factors is deleted.

10 Dec 2009

Preliminary data from Phase 2 clinical trial of ZFP Therapeutic program presented

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. announced today the presentation of preliminary data from the Phase 2 clinical trial of its ZFP Therapeutic(TM) program to develop SB-509 as a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at a Work in Progress session at the 20th International Symposium on ALS/MND held in Berlin, Germany.

9 Dec 2009

Mouse model may help identify unknown mutations that make lung cancer cells resistant to therapy

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide and lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type. Many cases of lung adenocarcinoma are attributed to a mutation in a gene for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

9 Dec 2009

Transgenomic's SURVEYOR Scan K-RAS mutation detection kit launched

Transgenomic, Inc. announced today the launch of its SURVEYOR Scan K-RAS kit, the first in a family of mutation detection kits the company plans to offer featuring its proprietary SURVEYOR Nuclease and WAVE® HS DHPLC platform. SURVEYOR Scan technology is a novel approach to mutation detection that uses a PCR amplification reaction and hybridization to form heteroduplex DNA molecules in samples with K-RAS mutation.

9 Dec 2009

TGFb growth factor controls spread of cancer cells

The spread, or metastasis, of individual breast cancer cells from the main tumor into the blood circulation to the lungs and other body tissues and organs is under the control of a growth factor abbreviated TGFb, according to a study with laboratory mice that will be presented at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) 49th Annual Meeting, Dec. 5-9, 2009 in San Diego.

7 Dec 2009

Genomic Health to present its Oncotype DX multi-gene expression test studies at the 32nd SABCS

Genomic Health, Inc. today announced that the company will present results from five studies at the 32nd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), taking place December 9-13, 2009, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

5 Dec 2009