
It wouldn’t be a stretch to call 2018 the year RNA-based treatments, such as those applying RNA interference (RNAi) or small interfering RNA (siRNA), finally reached the proverbial tipping point predicted ever since Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering RNAi.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that Health Canada has approved the company’s New Drug Submission (NDS) for its anthrax vaccine, BioThrax® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed). BioThrax is indicated for active immunization for the prevention of disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, in individuals 18 through 65 years of age, whose occupation or other activities place them at risk of exposure, regardless of the route of exposure. BioThrax is administered in a three-dose primary schedule (0, 1 and 6 months) with boosters at three-year intervals recommended thereafter. BioThrax was approved under the Extraordinary Use New Drug Regulations, which provide a regulatory pathway for products for which collecting clinical information for its intended use in humans is logistically or ethically not possible.

A large chunk of the school’s research spending — about $1.5 billion — can be attributed to Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory, based in Laurel.

Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: SENS) a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of a long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for people with diabetes, today has announced that the Eversense® Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System has been awarded one of Popular Science’s 2018 “Best of What’s New” Awards in the Health category.

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund provides a variety of grant programs for human stem cell research in the state of Maryland. Each RFA has its own timeline and review process; please read carefully the RFA when applying.

University of Maryland (UM) Ventures and Educational & Scientific, LLC (ESL) announced today that the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has again granted ESL an exclusive license for a novel cancer treatment. This agreement focuses on the development of Galeterone, a molecule with the potential to inhibit prostate cancer growth in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Galeterone is a steroidal antiandrogen that acts by disrupting the androgen receptor signaling pathway, which is the primary pathway that drives prostate cancer growth.

BullFrog AI, Inc, a precision pharmaceutical company built around a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) platform, proudly announces the addition of executive Everett Lee as its Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Lee brings nearly 3 decades of technical expertise and continuous advancement in technology management, strategic business planning and IT organizational leadership at major pharmaceutical/biotech and drug development companies such as AstraZeneca, Roche/Genentech, Eli Lilly & Co., Pfizer and Covance.
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Intelligent nanobots offer the promise of smart drug delivery systems for a variety of therapeutic applications. A promise that experts in the field believe will become a reality within the next 30-40 years.
But at MedImmune, we don’t think patients should have to wait.

The idea of using patients’ own immune cells to fight cancer is over a hundred years old. In the late 19th century, an American doctor called William Coley attempted to treat cancer by stimulating the immune system with dangerous bacteria, arguably the first example of what is now known as immunotherapy. His procedure appeared to shrink some patients’ tumours, but was criticised as unsafe and largely forgotten about. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy became the focus of cancer research and the standard tumour treatment for the rest of the 20th century.
