At Friday's conference session, the Supreme Court will consider for the second time whether to grant cert to Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics Inc., a challenge to the Salt Lake City-based company's claims on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes used in diagnostics for breast and ovarian cancers. The court's decision on whether to hear the case is expected Monday. Read More
Oncolytic viruses have aspects that are similar to both cancer immunotherapy and of gene therapy. As with gene therapy, the basic idea behind oncolytic viral therapy is to make a virus that will specifically infect certain cells. Read More
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals Inc. walked back from its proposed initial public offering (IPO) filed almost exactly a year ago, arranging instead for a $67.5 million Series 2 preferred stock financing led by a new investor, Vatera Healthcare Partners. Read More
• Epizyme Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said preclinical data showed that treatment with EPZ-5676, an S-adenosyl methionine competitive DOT1L inhibitor, showed dose-dependent antitumor activity in a genetically defined rat model of MLL-rearranged leukemia, when given as a continuous infusion for 21 days, and resulted in complete tumor regression with the highest dose tested. Read More
• Cytokinetics Inc., of South San Francisco, opened enrollment of the third and final cohort in its ATOMIC-AHF Phase IIb trial of omecamtiv mecarbil in left ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients hospitalized for heart failure. Read More
• Ranbaxy Inc., of Gurgaon, India, initiated a voluntary recall of 41 affected lots of atorvastatin calcium tablets as a precautionary measure due to the fact that the firm said it cannot exclude the possibility that the affected lots may contain very small glass particles resembling a fine grain of sand. Read More
