WASHINGTON – Collectively, the U.S. spends in excess of $2 trillion annually on health care. Ten percent to 15 percent of that money is spent on measurements of some sort. "And a lot of those are inaccurate and irreproducible." Such was the sobering assessment of Willie May, director of the material measurement laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Read More
Theratechnologies Inc., of Montreal, announced a new clinical program for muscle wasting in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using the company's lead compound, tesamorelin, a human growth hormone releasing factor analogue. The company said it will develop tesamorelin in muscle wasting in patients with COPD as its second indication. Read More
Theratechnologies Inc., of Montreal, has filed a preliminary prospectus with the securities administrators in each of the provinces of Canada and a registration statement with the U.S. SEC in connection with an offering of approximately 11 million common shares, which will be Theratechnologies' initial public offering in the U.S. Application has been made to list the common shares on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol THER. The company's common shares will also continue to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TH. Read More
Q Chip Ltd., of Cardiff, UK, announced it successfully completed preclinical studies with formulations of two leading therapeutic cancer peptides: Q-Leuprolide for prostate cancer and Q-Octreotide for acromegaly. Read More
Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. climbed 15 percent Wednesday following better-than-expected results from the company's Phase III STRIVE study of VX-770, its oral medicine candidate targeting the defective protein that causes the hereditary condition cystic fibrosis (CF). Read More
WASHINGTON – Hoping to reinvigorate the drug pipeline, especially for rare diseases, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to open its National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) on Oct. 1. Read More
