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New Antibodies Effective Against Seasonal, Pandemic Flu Strains - Annette Breindl
Date: February 24, 2009
Client: Burnham Institute for Medical Research
Summary: Pandemic influenza may be out of sight as far as headlines are concerned, but it is not out of mind of scientists and public health officials. And there’s plenty of public health threats to be had from influenza even when there is no pandemic going on. Globally, seasonal influenza kills a quarter of a million people each year. In the Feb. 22, 2009, issue of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, Liddington, who is professor and director of the Infectious and Inflammatory Disease Center at the Burnham Institute, with colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, reported on a fully human monoclonal antibody that binds to a relatively invariant region of the influenza virus. In cell culture as well as animal experiments, the antibody was effective against both H5N1 avian influenza virus, which is widely believed to be the most likely precursor for a future pandemic strain, and most seasonal influenza virus strains.
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Ambrx Nails Down Partnership with Merck KGaA to Develop Multiple Sclerosis Drug - Luke Timmerman
Date: February 24, 2009
Client: Ambrx
Summary: San Diego-based Ambrx has signed a new partnership with German pharmaceutical giant Merck KGaA to co-develop a drug for multiple sclerosis. Ambrx and Merck KGaA have agreed to keep the financial terms of this global partnership hush-hush for the time being, although I was able to get some insight into what it means yesterday from Ambrx CEO Steve Kaldor. The deal calls for Merck’s Geneva, Switzerland-based division (Merck Serono) to make an undisclosed equity investment in Ambrx, pay upfront cash, and provide milestone payments based on progress in development. Ambrx also gets the right to take a royalty stream on worldwide sales, or it can choose to convert that to a larger split of the U.S. profits or losses once the drug passes mid-stage clinical trials, Kaldor says. The drug, ARX424, is still is animal testing, and he wouldn’t say anything about its potential advantages over existing drugs or when it might even enter clinical trials.
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Ambrx and Merck Serono Expand Collaboration Through ARX424 Multiple Sclerosis Drug Development Alliance
Date: February 24, 2009
Client: Ambrx
Summary: SAN DIEGO, Ambrx Inc, and Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today announced a global strategic collaboration to develop and commercialize Ambrx’s ARX424 preclinical product candidate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. ARX424 was created by Ambrx through the application of its proprietary protein optimization technology, ReCODE™. This second collaboration between the two companies follows a previous agreement announced in 2007 to develop ARX201, Ambrx’s long-acting growth hormone product, currently in Phase II of clinical development.
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Antibodies protect against bird flu and more - Maggie Fox
Date: February 23, 2009
Client: Burnham Institute for Medical Research
Summary: WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered human antibodies that neutralize not only H5N1 bird flu but other strains of influenza as well and say they hope to develop them into lifesaving treatments. The antibodies -- immune system proteins that attach to invaders such as viruses -- also might be used to protect front-line workers and others at high risk in case a pandemic of flu broke out, the researchers said. "We were surprised and actually delighted to find that these antibodies neutralized a majority of other influenza viruses, including the regular seasonal (H1N1 strain of) flu," Robert Liddington of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, California, told reporters in a telephone briefing.
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Flu virus neutered in new therapy research could lead to universal vaccine - Scott La Fee
Date: February 23, 2009
Client: Burnham Institute for Medical Research
Summary: Scientists may have found a remarkably effective treatment against multiple forms of influenza, including the deadly bird flu, previous pandemic viruses and most strains of seasonal flu. The antiviral therapy has been successfully tested in mice. It could be ready for clinical trials in humans within two years, the researchers say, and a universal flu vaccine might be possible within five years. Writing yesterday in the online version of the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, along with colleagues at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, identified a collection of human monoclonal antibodies that bind to targeted flu viruses, preventing the particles from entering and infecting host cells.
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Scientists Identify Human Monoclonal Antibodies Effective Against Bird and Seasonal Flu Viruses
Date: February 22, 2009
Client: Burnham Institute for Medical Research
Summary: Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber), Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported the identification of human monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that neutralize an unprecedented range of influenza A viruses, including avian influenza A (H5N1) virus, previous pandemic influenza viruses, and some seasonal influenza viruses. These antibodies have the potential for use in combination with other treatments to prevent or treat certain types of avian and seasonal flu. The study was published online on February 22 in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.
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CorNova® Expands Management Team with Appointment of Robert Gallahue as Chief Financial Officer. Company Also Names Richard Sahagian as Senior Scientist.
Date: February 17, 2009
Client: CorNova®
Summary: BURLINGTON, Mass. CorNova® Inc. today announced the expansion of its executive team with the appointment of Robert Gallahue as chief financial officer. The company also announced the addition of Richard Sahagian as senior scientist. The appointments reflect the evolution of the company's endovascular product line, which includes the FiberHaloTM stent deployment and post-dilatation balloon catheter, the FiberHaloTM pre-dilatation balloon catheter and the advanced Valecor PlatinumTM Coronary Stent System.
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When the Condition You Treat is High Costs
Date: February 13, 2009
Client: Molecular Insight
Summary: An unmet medical need isn’t always an untreatable disease. Sometimes it’s a glitch in the healthcare system that can be made to work better by the application of just the right molecule. That was the take-away from a conversation I had the other day with John Babich, a noted radiologist and CEO of the Cambridge, MA-based biotech Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, which specializes in targeted radiopharmaceuticals and imaging. The company’s lead product these days is Zemiva, a radio-labeled fatty acid analog for diagnosing cardiac ischemia. “The heart is a furnace,” Babich explains. “If there has been ischemia, metabolism shuts down.” Zemiva (a new formulation of a Japanese-developed molecule known as I-123-BMIPP) has been on the market for 10 years or so as Cardiodine. Babich’s new twist is to develop the drug to serve as a quick, reliable way to diagnose cardiac disease in the emergency room.
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Weathering the Storm with Focus, Cash Consciousness
Date: February 12, 2009
Client: GlobeImmune, Molecular Insight
Summary: NEW YORK – Staying focused on a company’s mission, remaining cash conscious and being up front and transparent with employees and investors to minimize anxiety are key to weathering the current economic storm, biotech CEOs advised. “The best strategy you can have is to have enough money in the bank to get through,” said Timothy Rodell, CEO of Louisville, Colo.-based GlobeImmune Inc. But, he said, small private companies, like his, tend to finance in two-to-three-year cycles, “and this has been a fairly long cycle, so I think it is going to have an impact on a lot of companies.” John Babich, CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals Inc., whose firm also recently underwent a restructuring, emphasized that it is important to be transparent and up front with employees about the status of the company to ensure people do not get too anxious.
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Dyax and Fovea Sign Development and Commercialization Agreement for DX-88 in Ophthalmic Indications
Date: February 10, 2009
Client: Diax & Fovea
Summary: CAMBRIDGE, MA and PARIS, France, Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ: DYAX) and Fovea Pharmaceuticals, SA (“Fovea”) announced today that they have entered into an exclusive license agreement for the development and commercialization of an ocular formulation of DX-88 for the treatment of retinal diseases. The license grants Fovea exclusive marketing rights for DX-88 in ophthalmic indications in the European Union (EU)Dyax retains marketing rights for these indications for all territories outside the EU. Under the terms of the agreement, Fovea will fund development of DX-88 for the treatment of RVO-induced macular edema (Retinal Vein Occlusion) for approval in worldwide markets.
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Cougar Biotechnology Announces Agreement with FDA on Special Protocol Assessment for Phase III Trial of CB7630 (Abiraterone Acetate) in Chemotherapy Naïve Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients
Date: February 10, 2009
Client: Cougar
Summary: Los Angeles, CA, Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CGRB) today announced that it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for its planned Phase III clinical trial of the Company's lead drug candidate CB7630 (abiraterone acetate) in patients with chemotherapy naïve castration resistant prostate cancer. The SPA is a written agreement between the Company, as the trial's sponsor, and the FDA regarding the design, endpoints, and planned statistical analysis approach of the Phase III trial to be used in support of a New Drug Application (NDA).
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EXPERIMENTAL MAN - David Ewing Duncan
What one man's body revealed about his future, your health, and our toxic world
Date: February 9, 2009
Summary: In EXPERIMENTAL MAN: What One Man’s Body Reveals About His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World (Wiley, March, 2009) Duncan takes "guinea pig" journalism to the very edge of science, building on award-winning articles he wrote for National Geographic and Wired, in which he was tested for hundreds of chemical toxins – from pesticides to plastic additives – and for millions of genetic markers associated with disease, emotions, and other traits.
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EntreMed Presents initial clinical results for ENMD-2076
Date: February 9, 2009
Client: EntreMed
Summary: ROCKVILLE, MD, EntreMed, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENMD), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases, today announced recent developments in its program for ENMD-2076, an Aurora A/angiogenic kinase inhibitor. These developments include the presentation of initial results for 10a Phase 1 study in patients with refractory solid tumors as well as preclinical data showing significant potential for the use of ENMD-2076 in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy in breast cancer.
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Aerovance Appoints Babatunde A. Otulana, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer
Date: February 9, 2009
Client: Aerovance
Summary: BERKELEY, California, Aerovance Inc. today announced the appointment of Babatunde A. Otulana, M.D., to the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Otulana, 52, will provide medical as well as organizational and regulatory leadership to the company as it moves forward with the development of AerovantTM for uncontrolled asthma and AerodermTM for severe atopic eczema. He has more than 20 years of experience in pulmonary research and product development.
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Webcast of QIAGEN N.V.’s (Nasdaq: QGEN) Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2008
Financial Results Call Set for February 10
Date: February 3, 2009
Client: Qiagen
Summary: VENLO, The Netherlands, QIAGEN N.V. (Nasdaq: QGEN) today announced the Webcast of its fourth quarter and year-end 2008 financial results call. The Webcast will take place at 9:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday, February 10, and will include remarks by Peer M. Schatz, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Roland Sackers, Chief Financial Officer.
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"Fighting Cancer With Deadly Light" – Kerry A. Dolan
Date: February 2, 2009
Client: Light Sciences Oncology
Summary: Drugs toxic enough to kill cancer cells are toxic enough to kill healthy ones, too. How can the poison be targeted? One possibility that has long fascinated scientists is to administer a drug that becomes activated only when exposed to radiation. One treatment for the rare skin cancer cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, for example, involves an interaction between a chemical (psoralen) and ultraviolet light. But the trick is not easily applied to internal cancers, and in any event most therapies involving light-activated drugs have been commercial failures.
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