If intervening ahead of symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) works in people with gene mutations that predispose them to getting sick at a younger age, then it will probably work in the rest of the population, principal investigator Randall Bateman theorized to BioWorld Today, and his team at Washington University (WashU) – testing drugs provided by big pharma – hopes to prove as much. Read More
SAN FRANCISCO – The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference – and concurrent conferences and one-on-one meetings – is almost a study in sensory overload, from the crowded hallways at the Westin St. Francis to the speed-dating-style one-on-one meetings to the host of company presentations that probably left attendees dreaming in PowerPoint. Read More
LONDON – A proposal intended to speed market access for companies and get innovative products to patients more quickly has been blasted by the U.K. Bioindustry Association (BIA), which said it could block treatments for very rare diseases. Read More
Inhibiting the Axl kinase could have applications in both antitumor and antiviral therapy, separate papers published over the past few weeks have reported. In the Jan. 10, 2017, issue of Cell Reports, a team from the French INSERM Institute showed that Axl receptor activity both enabled Zika virus entry into cells and modulated innate immune responses. Read More
HONG KONG – Beijing-based Yisheng Biopharma Co. Ltd. said its PIKA rabies vaccine, which uses Toll-like receptor-3 (TLR-3) activation technology, has received the designation, which the company sees as a great push to bring the vaccine to market. Read More
Emergent Biosolutions Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., paid its newly launched oncology and hematology-focused spin-off, Aptevo Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, $20 million, raising its total contributions to fund the new company's operations to $65 million. Read More
Braeburn Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Princeton, N.J., reported that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has granted a Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System code, or permanent J-code, for Probuphine, its six-month buprenorphine implant for the maintenance treatment of opioid addiction. Read More
Obseva SA, of Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland, completed a phase I single and multiple ascending-dose study of OBE022, its once-daily, oral and selective prostaglandin F2alpha, or PGF2alpha, receptor antagonist candidate for the treatment of preterm labor in weeks 24 to 34 of pregnancy. Read More
Tumor cells could induce autophagy in neighboring cells of the microenvironment and use resulting macromolecules for their own nutritional gains, and early stage tumors were dependent on microenvironmental autophagy for their growth. Read More
