Preclinical News and Research

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Long-term graft retention is improved through supplementation of fat grafts with ADRCs

Results from Cytori Therapeutics’ preclinical fat grafting study have been published in the February issue of the Annals of Plastic Surgery. This article, entitled “Supplementation of Fat Grafts with Adipose-Derived Regenerative Cells (ADRCs) Improves Long-Term Graft Retention,” examines the science behind cell-enriched autologous fat grafting and its application to cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. The results demonstrate a doubling in graft retention in cell-enriched grafts and provide insight into the mechanisms behind this improvement.

25 Jan 2010

Curis prices registered direct offering

Curis, Inc. announced today that it has priced a registered direct offering of 6,449,288 units, at a price of $2.52 per unit, for gross proceeds of $16.25 million before deducting placement agents’ fees and estimated offering expenses. Each unit consists of one share of the company's common stock and a warrant to buy 0.25 of a share of the company's common stock. The warrants will be exercisable for a period of five years beginning on the date of issuance, at an exercise price of $3.55 per share.

22 Jan 2010

Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation disbursed $1 million in research awards; looks forward to fund more projects in 2010

The Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation has disbursed nearly $1 million in research awards for work on a breakthrough medical technology and is making more project funding available in 2010.

22 Jan 2010

hESC "reporter" line to measure endothelial cell production and activity

New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF)-Druckenmiller Fellow, Daylon James, PhD, of Weill Cornell Medial College, is lead author on a study defining conditions for generating a plentiful supply of endothelial (vessel lining) cells that are suitable for therapeutic use. Dr. James and his colleagues created a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) "reporter" line that can be used to measure endothelial cell production and activity.

22 Jan 2010

TGen holds the promise of a brighter economic future for Scottsdale

TGen Drug Development (TD2) is poised to play a significant role in the expansion of Scottsdale's biomedical industry, fostering new jobs and city revenues, and prompting the creation of more related businesses.

22 Jan 2010

Patheon constructs new pharmaceutical development center in Bourgoin-Jallieu

Patheon a global provider of drug development and manufacturing services to the international pharmaceutical industry announced today it has begun construction of a new pharmaceutical development center at its existing manufacturing facility in Bourgoin-Jallieu, France.

22 Jan 2010

FDA accepts ACT Biotech's ACTB1003 IND

ACT Biotech Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing a portfolio of oral kinase inhibitors as anti-cancer drugs, today announced the acceptance of the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ACTB1003 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company has now assembled a complete preclinical package, including manufacturing and toxicology studies, allowing ACTB1003 to enter a clinical trial.

22 Jan 2010

Growth of OMI equipment sales to reach $400M in 2014

In vivo optical molecular imaging (OMI) is poised to move into clinical use as one of the key tools in personalized medicine, complementing more established imaging tools such as CT and MRI. Growth of equipment sales is on track to reach $400 million in 2014 and nearly $1 billion by the end of the decade.

21 Jan 2010

Discovery of new class of compounds may help fight hepatitis C

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have discovered a novel class of compounds that, in experiments in vitro, inhibit replication of the virus responsible for hepatitis C. If these compounds prove effective in infected humans as well, they may dramatically accelerate efforts to confront this virus’s propensity to rapidly acquire drug resistance, while possibly skirting some of the troubling side effects common among therapies in current use and in late-stage development.

21 Jan 2010

Tel Aviv University finds estrogen may protect women from psychosis

Many American women are prescribed estrogen to combat the negative effects of menopause, such as bone loss and mood swings. Now, new evidence from a Tel Aviv University study suggests that hormone replacement therapy might also protect them ― and younger women ― from schizophrenia as well.

21 Jan 2010

VisEn Medical announces the commercial launch of new Cat B 680 FAST imaging agent

VisEn Medical Inc., a leader in fluorescence in vivo imaging from research through medicine, announced today the commercial launch of its new Cat B 680 FAST™ imaging agent for measuring and monitoring cathepsin B activity associated with disease progression and therapeutic response in vivo.

21 Jan 2010

Health Canada approves Novartis' Afinitor to treat patients with mRCC

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. (Novartis) announced today that Afinitor(R) (everolimus), a once-daily oral cancer treatment, has been approved by Health Canada for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), also known as advanced kidney cancer, after failure of initial treatment with VEGF-receptor targeted therapies Sutent(R) (sunitinib) or Nexavar(R) (sorafenib).

20 Jan 2010

New pre-clinical data on RXi Pharmaceuticals' proprietary rxRNA compounds presented

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company pursuing the development and commercialization of proprietary therapeutics based on RNA interference (RNAi), today announced that new pre-clinical data using proprietary rxRNA™ compounds was presented at the Keystone Symposia’s RNA Silencing: Mechanism, Biology and Application held January 14-19 in Keystone, Colorado.

20 Jan 2010

European Patent Office grants a patent for Rexahn Pharmaceuticals' RX-3117

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical company commercializing potential best in class oncology and CNS therapeutics, today announced that the European Patent Office has granted a patent for its novel anti-cancer compound, RX-3117.

20 Jan 2010

Fc engineering enhances antibody half-life

A Nature Biotechnology article published online January 17 reveals that Xencor Inc.’s proprietary Fc engineering extends the half-life of antibodies while maintaining their potency and extending duration of action. These results, published in an article entitled, “Enhanced antibody half-life improves in vivo activity” demonstrate the potential of Fc engineering to impact the flexibility of route, schedule and dose for nearly any antibody.

20 Jan 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals presents data on multiple therapeutic programs at RNAi Symposium

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced that it presented data from multiple pre-clinical and clinical programs at the “RNA Silencing: Mechanism, Biology, and Application” Keystone Symposium held January 14-19, 2010 in Keystone, Colorado. Alnylam and its collaborators presented data from Alnylam’s therapeutic programs including transthyretin (TTR)-mediated amyloidosis and Huntington’s disease, as well as new data on delivery approaches for the systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics.

20 Jan 2010

New research at Rhode Island Hospital identifies a treatment for glioblastomas

New research at Rhode Island Hospital has identified a treatment in animal models for glioblastomas - deadly brain tumors which, once diagnosed, offer a poor prognosis and relatively short life expectancy.

20 Jan 2010

Preliminary data from Phase 1 study of Sangamo BioSciences' SB-728-T announced

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. announced today that preliminary data from the University of Pennsylvania investigator sponsored Phase 1 safety study of Sangamo's zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) based product, SB-728-T, for HIV/AIDS were presented on Friday, January 15, 2010 at the Keystone Symposium Session "HIV Biology and Pathogenesis."

20 Jan 2010

Novartis obtains exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Chiasma's TPE technology

Chiasma, Inc., a privately held biopharma company, announced today that it has granted Novartis an option to obtain exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the Company's Transient Permeability Enhancer (TPE) technology for use with certain related small molecule products either in development or currently marketed by Novartis.

19 Jan 2010

GenVec and Novartis collaborate to develop novel treatments for hearing loss and balance disorders

GenVec and Novartis will collaborate to discover and develop novel treatments for hearing loss and balance disorders. Preclinical results suggest that delivery of the atonal gene using GenVec's innovative adenovector technology may have the potential to restore hearing and balance function.

19 Jan 2010