Scientists at the Technical University of Munich have demonstrated that sodium chloride increased the responses of T helper 2 (TH2) cells through several different mechanisms. Read More
Nanosphere Health Sciences Inc., of Denver, said it closed its nonbrokered private placement and issued 6.66 million units at 30 cents per unit for gross proceeds of $1.99 million. Read More
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Inc., of New York, said the Cleveland Clinic will be the first U.S. clinical site contracted for a planned phase II open-label, multicenter study of repeated intrathecal administration of autologous MSC-NTF cells in participants with progressive multiple sclerosis. Read More
Investors have warmed to the biopharmaceutical sector since the beginning of the year, and they are anticipating that there will be an increase in the number of M&A transactions going forward. They are looking particularly at companies in the oncology space following Eli Lilly and Co.'s $8 billion buyout of Loxo Oncology Inc. last month. Read More
HONG KONG – Chinese drugmakers have gotten a boost in the wake of the Chinese government's announcement to cut the value-added tax (VAT) on treatments for a range of rare diseases, in the country's latest move to overhaul its health care system and expand access to better-quality and cheaper drugs. Read More
Blockchain has already infiltrated the drug industry, from tracking supply chain to information management system to cryptocurrencies to pay people for their genomic sequencing. But now Agenus Inc. is looking to use the tracking technology to help fund drug development. The company announced plans to launch a Biotech Electronic Security Token (BEST), which will be tied to its anti-PD-1 antibody, AGEN-2034. Read More
During 2017 and 2018, the FDA put life aplenty into the AML space by taking action to clear or reapprove no fewer than eight drugs for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), including Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Tibsovo (ivosidenib) to treat relapsed or refractory disease with an isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutation who are not eligible for standard therapy and Idhifa (enasidenib), cleared for patients with IDH2 mutations. And the indication only looks to grow hotter. Read More
Energized by the opening of a second front in a high-stakes gene therapy collaboration with Abbvie Inc., investors in Voyager Therapeutics Inc. lifted company shares (NASDAQ:VYGR) 22.9 percent to $13.12 Friday. Under terms of the deal, Voyager's second in Parkinson's disease (PD) in as many months, Abbvie will pay the company $65 million up front in exchange for an exclusive option to license vectorized antibodies targeting misfolded alpha-synuclein proteins for synucleinopathies, like PD. Voyager will foot the bill for developing and testing the compounds through phase I. Read More
