Aviva Biosciences Corp., of San Diego, named Peter Wilding CEO and president. Aviva, a privately held biochip company focused on cellular manipulation and analysis, said Wilding, who has served as a company director since December 2000, will be critical to its commercialization efforts. Wilding was a co-founder of ChemCore, a biochip company that was acquired by Caliper Technologies Corp., of Mountain View, Calif., Aviva said. Wilding also served as vice president of SmithKlines Geometric Data Division.
Gliatech Inc., of Cleveland, said it filed a registration statement with the SEC related to a proposed rights offering to stockholders. The rights offering is expected to occur in the fourth quarter and is intended to provide additional financing to Gliatech while allowing current stockholders to maintain their proportionate ownership in the company. Also, Gliatech said the FDA identified key steps necessary to relaunch Adcon-L, which was recalled in January. Those steps include the submission by Gliatech of an acceptable corrective action plan, the independent reevaluation of magnetic resonance imaging data from positive clinical studies and an FDA inspection that verifies the implementation of the corrective action plan.
Karo Bio AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said it and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of New York, discovered a novel anti-obesity drug candidate that targets the thyroid hormone receptor. Bristol-Myers filed a joint investigational new drug application with the FDA to initiate clinical trials with the drug candidate. Karo Bio said the companies developed a selective compound that maintains the thyroid hormones stimulatory effects on metabolism without the cardiac side effects that prevent the use of the native thyroid hormone for treating obesity. The compound was tested in animal models, which showed significant weight loss and other therapeutic effects.
Paladin Labs Inc., of Montreal, said it acquired Propyl-Thyracil, which is indicated for treatment of hyperthyroidism, from Merck Frosst Canada & Co., of Kirkland, Quebec. No specifics were provided. Paladin said the drug complements its existing product portfolio, which includes androderm, the first testosterone patch in Canada, and tapazole, used to treat severe thyrotoxicosis.
Prana Biotechnology Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said it signed a cross-relationship agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital. Prana will pay for a portion of Alzheimers disease research directed by an MGH psychiatrist who also is a Prana consultant. Prana receives an exclusive license to the patent application for use of pramipexole, a full dopamine agonist being tested in patients with Parkinsons disease. And the company retains MGHs interim chief of psychiatry as a consultant in the areas of clinical trials, regulatory matters and treatments of neurodegenerative disorders.
St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital researchers said they discovered what they believe to be the worlds first universal stem call marker. The scientists said they found that expression of the ABCG2/Berp1 gene plays a crucial role in identifying stem cells from a wide variety of sources. The findings, published in the September issue of Nature Medicine, suggest the recently discovered gene provides scientists with a much more accurate way of identifying true stem cells than had been available in the past. Researchers found that stem cells in the bone marrow, skeletal muscle and the early mouse embryo all expressed the gene in a highly specific manner.