Biotechnology news

• Collaboration is Key in an Uncertain World

  28-02-2017 22:07
  
  It’s fair to say the last 12 months have been politically and economically tumultuous.
  Events on both sides of the Atlantic have shaken up the perceived order of things and set the world on an uncertain course.
  But whatever the future holds for our societies, we in the science community cannot afford to pull up our drawbridges and work in isolation.
  If anything, the events of the past year have reinforced the need for us to continue and even strengthen our international collaboration effor
  
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• BIO Opposes Flawed Maryland House Bill

  28-02-2017 18:46
  
  Patrick Plues, BIO’s Vice President, State Government Affairs, testified before the Maryland House in opposition to House Bill 666, which endangers innovation and fails to achieve the objective of lowering healthcare costs. Read Patrick’s testimony here.
  In advance of the hearing, two prominent leaders within Maryland’s bioscience industry expressed their opposition to the flawed bill in an op-ed that ran in The Baltimore Sun.
  
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• President’s Joint Address to Congress Could Be Huge for Biotech Industry

  28-02-2017 17:59
  
  “We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.”
  – President Trump’s inaugural address, Jan. 20, 2017
  President Trump has a chance to reset the national conversation tonight and operationalize his ambitious inaugural vision of using science and technology to solve our shared challenges.
  Truthfully, I can’t think of
  
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• Don’t Sniff at Mucus Proteomics, or You’ll Blow Chance to Confirm Viral Infection

  28-02-2017 16:20
  A runny nose is a runny nose is a runny nose—always something indeterminate. It could indicate a cold, or maybe a bacterial infection. But which? Your Kleenex won’t tell you. And in ordinary circumstances, a doctor won’t either. So, you might be tempted to ask for an antibiotic, even though the drug would be useless against a viral infection—worse than useless, really, since unnecessary antibiotic use contributes to the problem of antibiotic resistance.But what if a runny
  
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• An Efficient Single-Nucleotide-Editing CRISPR

  28-02-2017 16:13
  Since the discovery of the genome-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9, scientists have been looking to utilize the technology to make a significant impact on correcting genetic diseases. Technical challenges have made it difficult to use this method to correct disorders that are caused by single-nucleotide mutations, such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, Huntington's disease, and phenylketonuria. However now, researchers from the Center for Genome Engineering, within the Institute for Basic Science
  
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• Kite Pharma Reports Positive 6-Month Trial Data for Lead CAR-T Candidate

  28-02-2017 15:50
  Kite Pharma today reported positive 6-month data from its pivotal ZUMA-1 trial for its lead chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell candidate axicabtagene ciloleucel (formerly KTE-C19) in patients with chemorefractory aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).Axicabtagene ciloleucel met the trial’s primary endpoint with an 82% objective response rate (ORR), or rates of tumor response—complete response (CR) + partial response—recorded after a single infusion in 77 patients wit
  
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• Baxter, ScinoPharm Partner on Injectable Generic Cancer Drugs

  28-02-2017 15:03
  Baxter International will partner with ScinoPharm Taiwan to develop, manufacture and commercialize five injectable generic drugs for oncology and chemotherapy-related indications, the companies said today, through a collaboration whose value was not disclosed.The companies said the five drugs will consist of a range of cancer treatments—including lung cancer, multiple myeloma and breast cancer—as well as therapies for chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting.The products will be gene
  
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• ASK1 Kinase Finding Opens Door to Better Understanding Parkinson’s and Cancer

  28-02-2017 14:13
  New insights on a key factor involved in diseases such as Parkinson's, gastric cancer, and melanoma have been demonstrated by a study from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in collaboration with Australian scientists. In findings (“Structural basis of autoregulatory scaffolding by apoptosis signal-regulating kinase”) published in PNAS , the team of investigators, led by Otago Department of Biochemistry's Peter Mace, Ph.D., studied a protein called Apoptosis signal-regulating kina
  
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• My Friend Liz’s Condition Is Rare; So Is Her Passion and Her Spirit

  28-02-2017 14:00
  
  I have known Liz Kennerley for more than 20 years, since before the onset of her mitochondrial disease. Her father and I were high school classmates, and our families have spent summers together vacationing on the Jersey Shore.
  Over the years, Liz and I have had many long talks about her disease and her frustration with some of her doctors, her insurance company and her government. For Liz, the uncertainty surrounding the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act means uncertainty about
  
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• Fujifilm Sets Up Standalone Operating Unit for Biomanufacturing Services

  28-02-2017 13:51
  Fujifilm is setting up a new standalone Bio contract development and manufacturing organization ( CDMO) division to grow and expand its existing biopharma contract development and manufacturing operation. The firm says the Bio CDMO business will aim to achieve revenues of Yen 100 billion (approximately $0.9 billion) by 2024. Fujifilm’s biomanufacturing business had previously been part of its pharmaceutical products division.The new operating unit will offer small-molecule contract develop
  
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• Astellas Licenses Affinivax Pneumococcal MAPS Vaccine

  28-02-2017 11:45
  Astellas Pharma and Affinivax agreed an exclusive global licence deal to develop and commercialize the latter’s lead preclinical  Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine. The vaccine has been developed using Affinivax’s Multiple Antigen Presenting System (MAPS) vaccine platform, and has undergone preclinical proof-of-concept testing.Under terms of the deal Astellas will fund and head the ongoing development program, and retains worldwide rights to commercialize the MAPS vaccine for pne
  
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