BioWorld Today Contributing Writer If you do a web search on the term “cancer cure,” you’ll get pages and pages of conspiracy theories, alternative medicine sites, and home-cooked “natural” remedies. Some of them, like baking soda and maple syrup (I kid you not) are probably harmless. Some of them cross the line into deception. But what you won’t find, as you click through pages and pages of snake oil, is a legitimate, mainstream medical site with information on curing cancer. The focus is on “controlling” the disease, “inducing” remission, maintaining “complete response,” increasing “overall survival,” and...
Sorbent Therapeutics Inc. expanded its Series B financing round by $36 million, for a deal total of $53 million. The proceeds will support Phase II development of its cardiovascular candidate, CLP1001. The financing round was led by new investor Novartis Venture Funds, and was joined by Sofinnova Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, CMEA Capital and AgeChem. Novartis attributed its interest in Sorbent to CLP1001's promising clinical data.
WASHINGTON ? If there's any universal experience of the BIO International Conference, it has to be foot fatigue. You hear about it in snatches in the hallway. “My feet are aching.” “I have to get off my feet.” “My blisters have blisters.” At least two vendors in the exhibition hall were giving away Band-Aids in branded Band-Aid dispensers, much to the gratitude of attendees, who snatched them up eagerly. Even when making maximum use of shuttle buses and taxis, a big convention like BIO is all about pounding the pavement. Both city sidewalks and convention center floors are constructed from...
WASHINGTON – Most biotech start-ups, even the most successful, will at some point hit a cash flow wall, where they need a large infusion of funding to get a product to the regulatory finish line. Recent economic trends have largely taken the initial public offering (IPO) option off the table, so for most companies the choice comes down to partnering or acquisition. At BIO 2011, Calistoga Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Carol Gallagher and Athersys Inc. CEO Gil Van Bokkelen discussed how they arrived at the decision to partner or sell.
WASHINGTON – "Why could we not in the longer term take a coordinated effort to change our approach to toxicology to focus on human embryonic stem cells and IPS cells?" asked Francis Collins in his keynote address to the Translational Research Forum Presentation at the BIO International Convention.
Clovis Oncology Inc. filed on Thursday for an initial public offering (IPO) worth up to $149.5 million, making it the largest biotech IPO currently in the queue, and dwarfing others that have commenced trading in 2011.
The FDA has added a warning to the label for Actos (pioglitazone) stating that the use of the medication for more than one year may be associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. The statement by the FDA followed a review of data from a five-year interim analysis of an ongoing epidemiological study.
Canadian biotech Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc. took home C$13 million (US$13.3 million) in an equity financing round to boost development of its cardiovascular candidate, MSP-2017. The drug offers hope of a short-acting, as-needed treatment for episodes of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) that may allow patients to discontinue chronic therapy and stay out of the emergency room.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported positive interim results from a Phase II trial of a combination of two investigational drugs for cystic fibrosis (CF). Although the trial documented solid, statistically significant chances in the outcome marker, sweat chloride, the results were not perceived as a home run.
Affectis Pharmaceuticals AG signed on with Merck Serono to develop neurology compounds targeting P2X7 receptors, a calcium channel thought to play a role in neuroprotection. Affectis has been developing the P2X7 receptor as a target for depression and some other related indications.
