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Cerulean Pharma to assemble scientific experts at ACS National Meeting symposium

Cerulean Pharma Inc., a leader in designing and developing nanopharmaceuticals, today announced it will assemble a group of leading scientific experts at the American Chemical Society's ("ACS") 240th National Meeting & Exposition for a three-day thought leadership summit on the advancement of nanotechnology in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries.

20 Aug 2010

Cognition Therapeutics receives grant to develop small-molecule drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced today that it has awarded a grant of $228,668 to Cognition Therapeutics (CogRx) to develop small molecule drugs that block the action of the toxic "oligomers" thought responsible for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

19 Aug 2010

Halozyme Therapeutics granted U.S. patent for recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme platform

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 7,767,429 claiming its proprietary recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme platform (rHuPH20). Claims to the human PH20 glycoprotein, PEGylated variants, the glycoprotein produced by recombinant methods, and pharmaceutical compositions with other agents, including antibodies, insulins, cytokines, anti-infectives and additional therapeutic classes were awarded in the '429 patent. Additional claims are in prosecution.

12 Aug 2010

Scientists develop new metabolite analysis technique for accurate ovarian cancer detection

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have attained very promising results on their initial investigations of a new test for ovarian cancer. Using a new technique involving mass spectrometry of a single drop of blood serum, the test correctly identified women with ovarian cancer in 100 percent of the patients tested. The results can be found online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, & Prevention Research.

12 Aug 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals reports significant progress in discovery of novel technologies for systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, and collaborators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), The University of British Columbia (UBC), AlCana Technologies, Inc., and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation, presented results from multiple ongoing research efforts regarding the discovery of novel technologies for the systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics.

10 Aug 2010

Healthy eggs require tremendous amount of zinc to reach maturity for fertilization: Research

Scientists as well as fertility doctors have long tried to figure out what makes a good egg that will produce a healthy embryo. It's a particularly critical question for fertility doctors deciding which eggs isolated from a woman will produce the best embryos and, ultimately, babies.New research reveals healthy eggs need a tremendous amount of zinc to reach maturity and be ready for fertilization,a finding that may ultimately help physicians assess the best eggs for fertility treatment, according to a study from Northwestern University.

10 Aug 2010

Scientists find new way to make beating heart cells from body's own cells

Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have found a new way to make beating heart cells from the body's own cells that could help regenerate damaged hearts. Over 5 million Americans suffer from heart failure because the heart has virtually no ability to repair itself after a heart attack.

6 Aug 2010

Scientists find molecular cocktail to transform non-muscle cells into cardiac muscle

In heart disease, cardiac muscle gradually dies off and, with little or no way to regenerate those cells, that can ultimately lead the heart to fail. But scientists reporting in the August 6th issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, might have found a way to fix those losses. They've devised a three-ingredient molecular cocktail that transforms fibroblasts - structural cells that the heart is chock full of - directly into beating heart cells.

6 Aug 2010

Researchers discover mechanism linking H. pylori infection and stomach cancer

Researchers have discovered a mechanism by which Helicobacter pylori, the only known cancer-causing bacterium, disables a tumor suppressor protein in host cells.The new study, in the journal Oncogene, reports the discovery of a previously unknown mechanism linking H. pylori infection and stomach cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.

2 Aug 2010

Scientists develop laser activated carbon nanoparticles for drug, gene delivery

Using chemical "nanoblasts" that punch tiny holes in the protective membranes of cells, researchers have demonstrated a new technique for getting therapeutic small molecules, proteins and DNA directly into living cells.Carbon nanoparticles activated by bursts of laser light trigger the tiny blasts, which open holes in cell membranes just long enough to admit therapeutic agents contained in the surrounding fluid. By adjusting laser exposure, the researchers administered a small-molecule marker compound to 90 percent of targeted cells - while keeping more than 90 percent of the cells alive.

28 Jul 2010

Johns Hopkins scientist wins $2.5M NIH Director's Pioneer Award

A Johns Hopkins scientist who proposes to design and create an all-new series of novel drugs is one of 17 winners of a special grant known as a Director's Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health.

27 Jul 2010

QPS acquires Xendo Drug Development

QPS Holdings, LLC, a leading full-service GLP/GCP-compliant contract research organization providing testing services to support preclinical and clinical research and development, announced the completion of its acquisition of Xendo Drug Development BV (XDD), headquartered in Groningen, The Netherlands. XDD, a European contract research organization (CRO), will be known as QPS Netherlands BV and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of QPS Holdings, LLC.

26 Jul 2010

Researchers discover fundamental entry mechanism of fungal microbes into plant and human host cells

A research team led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech has discovered a fundamental entry mechanism that allows dangerous fungal microbes to infect plants and cause disease. The discovery paves the way for the development of new intervention strategies to protect plant, and even some animal cells, from deadly fungal infections. The findings are published in the July 23 edition of the journal Cell.

23 Jul 2010

Valproic acid halts vision loss in patients with retinitis pigmentosa

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School believe they may have found a new treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, a severe neurodegenerative disease of the retina that ultimately results in blindness. One of the more common retinal degenerative diseases, RP is caused by the death of photoreceptor cells and affects 1 in 4,000 people in the United States. RP typically manifests in young adulthood as night blindness or a loss of peripheral vision and in many cases progresses to legal blindness by age 40.

22 Jul 2010

ArmaGen uses BBB molecular Trojan horse platform technology to create brain penetrating form of human EPO

Human erythropoietin (EPO) is a potent neuroprotective agent for multiple brain disorders, including stroke, brain and spinal cord injury, and Parkinson's disease. However, EPO drug development for the brain is limited, because EPO does not cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In acute stroke or brain injury, the BBB is intact in the early hours after the insult when neuroprotection is still possible. Therefore, large molecule biopharmaceuticals such as EPO must be re-engineered to enable BBB transport.

17 Jul 2010

ALLOZYNE signs worldwide licensing agreement with The Scripps Research Institute

ALLOZYNE Inc. announced today the signing of a worldwide licensing agreement with The Scripps Research Institute. The agreement gives ALLOZYNE rights to a unique and powerful chemical reaction, developed by Nobel Laureate K. Barry Sharpless of Scripps Research, known as "Click chemistry." The novelty of this reaction comes from its ability to introduce two different molecular components and have them "click" together stably and irreversibly.

15 Jul 2010

Evotec to acquire DeveloGen

Evotec AG today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire DeveloGen, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of metabolic and endocrine disorders, for up to €14m in shares plus performance-related deferred payments (earn-out).

15 Jul 2010

Promising study may lead to potential new therapeutics for women facing triple-negative breast cancer

Using a small molecule decoy, investigators funded by the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation have managed to block protein interactions and induce epigenetic reprogramming in human and mouse breast cancer cells, essentially changing the gene expression of breast cancer cells to behave in a more normal manner.

9 Jul 2010

Calithera Biosciences completes Series A financing totaling $40M

Calithera Biosciences, a company developing novel oncology therapeutics, today announced the completion of a Series A financing totaling $40 million. Morgenthaler Ventures led the financing with U.S. Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Delphi Ventures and Mission Bay Capital also participating in the round. The capital will be used to support the company's pioneering efforts to develop activators of caspases, the proteases that promote apoptotic cell death, for the treatment of cancer and other proliferative diseases.

8 Jul 2010

Selvita, Orion collaborate to develop and commercialize SEL103 Alzheimer’s disease program

Selvita sp. z o.o., from Krakow, Poland and Orion Corporation from Espoo, Finland (ORNBV) today announced that they have entered into a global collaboration to jointly develop and commercialize SEL103, Selvita's proprietary program for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive disorders. Selvita will be responsible for early research on the program and Orion will take over the pre-clinical and clinical development as well as further commercialization.