LONDON – e-Therapeutics plc celebrated the start of the year with the opening of a new discovery division in Oxford, UK, and is now in the thick of preparations for four clinical trials that are all due to start in 2012.
SAN FRANCISCO – Although most of the biotech world was starting last week with a J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference hangover, it was business as usual for the redoubtable Steve Burrill, whose life sciences venture firm, Burrill & Co., recently added Capital Fund IV to its portfolio.
SAN FRANCISCO – The global recession left the U.S. and much of the rest of the world strapped for cash, with both harsh venture and capital markets taking their toll on the biotech sector. But in China, the economic situation is "really kind of the reverse," noted Greg Scott, founder and president of ChinaBio LLC.
• CrystalGenomics Inc., of Pangyo, South Korea, raised KRW3 billion (US$2.6 million) through a private placement to the Korea Seoul Life Science Fund. KSLSF is backed by the City of Seoul and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. CrystalGenomics has raised KRW23 billion in the past month. The funds will support three clinical programs.
LONDON – The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is poised to take a significant step forward in the regulation of biosimilar drugs, with the publication of its final guideline on requirements for biosimilar monoclonal antibodies (mABs).
LONDON – The discovery of a new way to prevent cells from producing tumor necrosis factor (TNF) could one day lead to the development of more specific treatments for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and sepsis.
Quality management problems at its contract manufacturer, Ben Venue Laboratories Inc., have forced Clavis Pharma ASA to slow recruitment in a Phase III trial of elacytarabine in late-stage acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and will result in a delay of one quarter in the reporting of its results.
LONDON – Nanomedicine specialist Midatech Ltd. closed a £6.3 million (US$9.7 million) funding round as it confirmed the formal launch of its joint venture with MonoSol Rx, in which the two partners will develop a gold nanoparticle-based formulation of insulin, designed to be delivered via a patch that adheres to the inside of the mouth.
LONDON – A protein that can steer the estrogen receptor protein to different parts of the genome in cancer cells probably helps to determine the outcome of breast cancer, a new study has found.
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