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Hematologic DNA blood test

Australia’s Telix to acquire Swiss Therapharm for hematology assets in AU$33M deal

Dec. 1, 2020
By Tamra Sami
PERTH, Australia – Melbourne-based Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is acquiring Scintec Diagnostics GmbH subsidiary Therapharm GmbH in a deal worth AU$33 million (US$24.24 million) plus royalties. Zug, Switzerland-based Therapharm has developed a portfolio of radiolabeled diagnostic and therapeutic products, and the deal brings Telix a new targeting asset in hematology, Telix CEO Chris Behrenbruch told analysts during a Dec. 1 conference call.
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Holiday notice

Nov. 30, 2020
BioWorld's offices were closed in observance of Thanksgiving in the U.S. No issue was published Thursday, Nov. 26, or Friday, Nov. 27.
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Ribbons of digital data

‘We will understand how humans work’ with Deepmind’s new algorithm

Nov. 30, 2020
By Nuala Moran
LONDON – The Google artificial intelligence company Deepmind has developed an algorithm that can predict the 3D structure of a protein from its amino acid sequence, making it possible to solve the structures of proteins, such as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are a mainstay of drug targeting but whose structure is challenging to determine with current methods.
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Holiday notice

Nov. 25, 2020
BioWorld's offices will be closed in observance of Thanksgiving in the U.S. No issue will be published Thursday, Nov. 26, or Friday, Nov. 27.
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US flag, Department of Health and Human Services flags

Twin HHS final rules may not find favor under Biden administration

Nov. 23, 2020
By Mark McCarty
Two U.S. federal agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have finalized rules that affect how drug and device makers interact with the health care system, but under the Congressional Review Act, neither rule can go into effect until February 2021. This timeline comes up a couple of weeks after President-elect Joseph Biden is sworn in, thus raising the risk that the new administration at HHS will either modify or overturn these rules altogether.
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U.S. flag, stethoscope

Pandemic imposing no drag on U.S. government scrutiny of speaker programs

Nov. 19, 2020
By Mark McCarty
The casual observer may think that physician speaker programs sponsored by makers of drugs and medical devices have drawn less attention from U.S. federal attorneys, but reality has failed to meet that expectation. Mark Gardner, managing attorney of Gardner Law of Stillwater, Minn., said on a Nov. 19 webinar that “there’s a lot coming through right now in terms of settlements,” including a settlement with a drug maker that sent the company into bankruptcy.
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Skeptical OIG issues fraud alert about speaker programs

Nov. 16, 2020
By Mari Serebrov
If the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has its way, one of the casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic would be the in-person speaker programs many drug and device companies sponsor. The OIG issued a special fraud alert Nov. 16 questioning the need for such events in which health care professionals are often paid a hefty honorarium or fee to provide colleagues with information that’s readily available online and in the labeling of a drug or device.
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Sangeeta Chavan in the lab

Feinstein researchers discover specific neurons that control immune response

Nov. 11, 2020
By Annette Boyle
Researchers at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the research arm of New York-based Northwell Health, illuminated the precise pathway from the brainstem to the spleen that controls inflammation in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). Essentially, the work demonstrates how scientists could use the vagus nerve to hack the immune system, enabling them to turn down the excessive response that underlies autoimmune disease without the use of biologics or immunosuppressive drugs.
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