Although expected, results from Medivation Inc.'s Phase III CONCERT trial of Dimebon (laterpirdine) in Alzheimer's disease were still a letdown. Read More
Despite concerns about the economic climate in Europe and whether or not the U.S. is headed into another recession, biotech companies around the world managed to raise $23.4 billion in 2011, up from $19.3 billion in 2010 and almost back on par with the $24.8 billion raised in the glory days of 2007. Read More
Cancer treatment is a field that has seen impressive advances in many areas, but no home run in terms of a cure. Many cancer researchers have pinned their hopes on cancer stem cells to change all that. Read More
Quality management problems at its contract manufacturer, Ben Venue Laboratories Inc., have forced Clavis Pharma ASA to slow recruitment in a Phase III trial of elacytarabine in late-stage acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and will result in a delay of one quarter in the reporting of its results. Read More
• Cellceutix Corp., of Beverly, Mass., said preclinical research into the mechanism of action of Kevetrin showed that the drug not only activates p53 but targets HDAC2. Kevetrin down-regulated HDAC2 in mutant and null p53 cancer cell lines. Clinical trials in cancer are expected to start this year. Read More
• Celldex Therapeutics Inc., of Needham, Mass., said it started dosing in a Phase I study of hematopoietic growth factor CDX-301 in healthy subjects. The dose-escalating trial is designed to determine the appropriate dose of CDX-301, a recombinant human FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand, for further clinical development. Celldex said its first priority is to develop the molecule for hematopoietic stem cell transplant, where it has demonstrated improvement of blood cell reconstitution in preclinical models. Read More
