News Archive

Despite only coming into life two years ago, Pfizer and NEA-backed upstart Vtesse has already seen its rare disease candidate VTS-270, for Niemann-Pick disease type C1, nab the coveted FDA breakthrough tag, and has now been bought out by Maryland-based biotech Sucampo.

The deal sees the biopharma pay $200 million upfront in cash and stock, with the pair also seeking to set up a new foundation, after the deal is signed, “to support research related to NPC disease.” Both will pay into this new organization.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tagrisso (osimertinib; AstraZeneca) for the treatment of patients with metastatic epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) T790M mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as detected by an FDA-approved test, whose disease has progressed on or after EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. 

Silver Spring-based biotech United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: UTHR) lost a recent challenge to one of its lead patents for its flagship drugs.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that all of the local company’s claims for the particular patent — which impacts its lead products for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension such as Remodulin, Tyvaso and Orenitram — are not patentable.

When President Trump proposed a cut of nearly 20 percent in support for the National Institutes of Health, many wondered how the administration would even attempt to find such reductions. The answer emerged in the congressional testimony last week of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who argued the government could save billions without hurting research by cutting back on the overhead reimbursements to colleges and universities.

Qiagen said Friday after the close of the market that it has acquired an exclusive worldwide license from Johns Hopkins University for detection of the AR-V7 biomarker in all sample and cell types using nucleic acid tests such as PCR or next-generation sequencing.

As a result, Qiagen will commercialize its research-use-only AdnaTest Prostate Cancer Panel AR-V7 to detect the androgen receptor splice variant 7 from liquid biopsies to investigate resistance to potential drugs for advanced prostate cancer.

Research tools developer Canopy Biosciences announced today that it has exclusively licensed a novel gene-editing technology from Washington University in St. Louis and Johns Hopkins University.

The technology, called Tunr, involves targeting translation elongation by introducing consecutive adenosine nucleotides — known as polyA tracks — into a gene coding sequence of interest. As described in Nature Communications earlier this year, inserting polyA tracks into the open reading frame of an mRNA will suppress protein expression by decreasing the efficiency of the translation elongation phase leading to diminished production of protein and mRNA destabilization, thereby diminishing mRNA levels.

Independence Health Group, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. have given a $150,000 seed investment to VitalTrax. This is the group’s first investment from their $6 million digital health funding initiative announced in December 2016.

Scientists and policy-makers have long argued that public investments in science have practical applications. Using data on patents linked to U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants over a 27-year period, we provide a large-scale accounting of linkages between public research investments and subsequent patenting. We find that about 10% of NIH grants generate a patent directly but 30% generate articles that are subsequently cited by patents. Although policy-makers often focus on direct patenting by academic scientists, the bulk of the effect of NIH research on patenting appears to be indirect. We also find no systematic relationship between the “basic” versus “applied” research focus of a grant and its propensity to be cited by a patent.

Doctors can rebuild parts of the body that have been damaged, but they need soft tissue to do it.

Whether it’s facial reconstruction after trauma, a masectomy as a result of breast cancer or something more cosmetic like stopping wrinkles, the person who needs the procedure is typically the one to provide the tissue.

When: Tuesday, April 11, 2017 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM EDT Add to Calendar

Where: Harbor Launch @ IMET 701 E Pratt St Baltimore, MD 21202

Let’s talk about the startup F word – Finance. It’s a critical component of a company’s success, and it’s more than just spreadsheets. We’re giving this topic its day in the sun, answering such questions as… When does a startup need a CFO? What functions should a CFO serve? What qualities are desirable in a CFO? How can startups without a CFO best attend to their finances?

Join us on Tuesday, April 11th from 5:30-7:30pm at the Columbus Center (701 E Pratt Street) for this fireside-chat style event, moderated by Ken Malone of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. and Early Charm Ventures. We will hear the experiences and perspectives of Eileen O’Rourke, Chief Financial Officer at The Abell Foundation, Steve Dubin, Principal, SDA Ventures LLC; Chairman, Enzymotec Ltd., and Ryan McQueeney, Chief Financial Officer at RedOwl.

Program: 6-7pm with BioBuzz networking before and after.