LONDON – TauRx Therapeutics Ltd. said it has recruited the first patients to two Phase III Alzheimer's disease trials in which it aims to provide the first definitive proof that breaking down tangles of tau protein in the brain has a disease-modifying effect in the mild to moderate stages of pathology. Read More
LONDON – Kymab Ltd. called up two industry veterans to help with the commercialization of its new platform technology for generating monoclonal antibodies in transgenic mice, as it prepares both to out-license access to the technology and use it to start an internal drug discovery effort. Read More
Researchers reported last week that the retroviral vector that is used for gene delivery in the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, does more than just ferry its cargo into cells. It activates the innate immune system – and that activation is critical for efficient reprogramming. Read More
On a day when all eyes in the U.S. were trained on the path of destruction left by Hurricane Sandy, the CHDI Foundation Inc. was focused on a very different destroyer: Huntington's disease (HD). Read More
• Complix NV, of Hasselt, Belgium, was awarded a grant of €1.9 million (US$2.4 million) from the Flanders government through the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders to speed up development of its cell penetrating alphabodies (CPABs) for a number of disease targets, including cancer. Read More
• Ocular Therapeutix Inc., of Bedford, Mass., reported that a Phase II study of sustained-release travoprost (OTX-TP2) for glaucoma and ocular hypertension in 20 patients produced results comparable to topical brand name ophthalmic solutions travatan (Alcon Laboratories), Lumigan (Allergan Inc.) and Xalatan (Pfizer Inc.). Read More
• Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., said the FDA accepted for review two supplemental new drug applications for use of atypical antipsychotic Latuda (lurasidone) as monotherapy and as adjunctive therapy to lithium or valproate, both to treat adult patients with depressive episodes associated with bipolar I disorder (bipolar depression). Read More
• A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Part D prices, called "Discount Program Effects and Brand-Name Drug Price Trends," found that prescription costs did not go up for other people on Medicare as a result of discounts given by pharma firms to the government as a way of closing the gap in benefits for senior citizens. Read More
