A team at Dartmouth University has shown that in fruit flies, stressful experiences could lead to epigenetic changes that led to a preference for ethanol-rich foods for several generation of offspring. Read More
To hear Peter Sorger tell it, the reproducibility crisis is a good news/bad news situation.His team's "strangely simple and encouraging message" about the reproducibility crisis, Sorger told BioWorld, is that "we know exactly how to solve it... In the totally ordinary doing of science, you can figure out how to make an assay reproducible." Sources of variability "can be subjected to empirical analysis, and you can develop reproducible protocols, with some effort." The bad news is that what bedevils reproducibility is harder to fix than quality control. "The current incentive structure of the scientific enterprise," Sorger said, "is not designed to encourage reproducible science." Read More
LONDON – Cytox Ltd. is launching a genetic test that can predict the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and is able to single out which people presenting with symptoms of mild cognitive decline will go on to most rapidly develop Alzheimer's disease. Read More
Prospects for the new wave of migraine therapies targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) – with three approved already and more in developers' pipelines – have been the topic of talk lately, with analysts such as Evercore ISI's Umer Raffat pointing to what some might see as a dispiriting level-out in sales among those treatments to reach the market so far. Read More
Drugs for rare diseases now account for 31% of R&D pipelines, up from 18% in 2010 and just 11% in 2005, according to a report from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. That's currently nearly 3,500 drugs in development, more than double the 1,530 in 2010. Read More
HONG KONG – Prestige Biopharma Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-headquartered pharmaceutical company under the Prestige Group, has agreed to grant exclusive license to U.K.-based multinational company Mundipharma International Ltd. for distribution and sale of its trastuzumab biosimilar, Tuznue, in western European markets, including France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Switzerland and Austria. Read More
TEL AVIV, Israel – With shares now listed in the U.S. and data from a pivotal trial for its key bladder cancer therapy coming soon, Anchiano Therapeutics Ltd. is poised to ride the wave of interest in gene therapy. Read More
Sonoma Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Petaluma, Calif., said it is now compliant with the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on Nasdaq and is no longer subject to delisting at this time. To achieve compliance, the company implemented a 1-for-9 reverse stock split last month. Read More
Horizon Therapeutics plc, of Dublin, said Horizon Pharma U.S. Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary, priced its offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of 5.5% senior notes due 2027. Read More
