Category Archives: Biotechnology

Wall Street is going gaga over the healthcare and biotech sector. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (ETF) (NASDAQ:IBB) rallied 9% in four days. TheSPDR S&P Biotech (ETF) (NYSEARCA:XBI) rallied even more. These are impressive moves that deserve respect. But I cannot chase it if I am not already on board the trade. Or I will end up buying someone elses profits. Wall Street loves to trade memes these days. A few weeks ago the IBB was dead money, now they cant have enough of it. The hoopla centers around expectations from the new healthcare bill. I think we are giving it too much credit. We dont know if it will pass and even if it does, we dont know its full effects. But I am willing to bet that it wont be better to the sector than Obamacare was. This new bill is likely to be less, and therefore we could have a disappointment period coming. Click to Enlarge Before you label me a perma-bear, I was a fan of the IBB a few weeks ago. Instead of chasing the momentum after it happens, a bit a good homework delivered great results. Case in point is this massive win from … Continue reading →

Following shrinking sales for its wet AMD drug Lucentis, Novartis is back with convincing Phase III results of its anti-VEGF-A singe chain antibody fragment brolucizumab. In two pivotal studies the drug proved to be non-inferior to Regeneron/Bayers Eylea (aflibercept). With 25 million patients affected worldwide, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a highly lucrative market. For years, Novartis first-in-class drug Lucentis (ranibizumab) was dominant in the large US market, but now Regenerons competing drug Eylea (aflibercept, 2026 sales: US$3.3bn, +24%) has overtaken Lucentis (2016: US$2bn, -11%) in US sales, mostly because it is not administered once monthly as Lucentis, but once every two months and has a lower price (US$1,850 per intravitreal injection). However, results of two pivotal Phase III studies suggest Novartis could return to its former leadership with its next generation anti-VEGF-A-antibody fragment brolucizumab, which has to be administered only once quarterly. In both trials, the HAWK and the HARRIER study, brolucizumab met the primary endpoint of non-inferiority versus aflibercept in best corrected visual acuity after 48 weeks of treatment and the secondary endpoint of mean change in visual acuity. Whats more, the two drugs had comparable side-effect profiles. Novartis plans to submit a BLA next year. Analysts say … Continue reading →

It is critical that humanity meet the food needs of a growing population and relieve the increasing pressures on natural systems. Environmental Defense Fund supports the coexistence of diverse farming systems to ensure a sustainable future for farmers, society, and our environment. Achieving these goals will require a comprehensive strategy that draws on a wide range of approaches and technologies, including biotechnology. EDF recognizes the use of biotechnology as a legitimate deployment of science in the search for effective solutions, and also recognizes that past deployment of some biotechnology products has caused legitimate concerns. For that reason, we will support or oppose specific biotechnology products or processes based on transparent assessments of their health, environmental, social, and economic risks and benefits.The risks and benefits of biotechnology products will often vary by organism, geography and other variables, and need to be assessed at relevant temporal and spatial scales. The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Our position on biotechnology Continued here: Environmental Defense Fund: Sustainable farming, feeding growing population require biotechnology - Genetic Literacy Project … Continue reading →

About Lilly's Biotechnology Center and the Company's Presence in San DiegoThe center features a new technologically-advanced laboratory and an additional 180,000 square feet of working space, which is an increase of 145 percent compared to the former facility. In addition to the center's established presence in preclinical and clinical immunology research, the new space allows for closer partnership between Lilly experts in biotechnology, discovery chemistry and research technologies while also fostering external collaborations. "Being in the San Diego area for the last 13 years has been a game changer for us, specifically in the arena of discovering medicines for hard-to-treat autoimmune conditions," said Thomas F. Bumol, Ph.D., senior vice president of biotechnology and immunology research at Lilly. "With compounds such as Taltz (ixekizumab) for psoriasis, we've not only provided patients with a new treatment option, but we've also moved the needle for advancing science." As a pioneer in automated organic synthesis, Lilly is creating the Lilly Life Science Studio in San Diego. Building upon Lilly's Automated Synthesis Laboratory in Indianapolis, the new facility will allow researchers across the globe to remotely design, synthesize and screen investigational molecules in an unprecedented manner. Using the power of automation, the Lilly Life Sciences … Continue reading →

Evotec and co-investors support Dutch Facio Therapies BV with 4.8m to push development of Dux4 inhibitors to treat facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD), one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy. With its investement alongside unnamed Australian and North American investors, Evotec enters the field of musculoskeletal diseases. Currently there is no causative treatment for the muscle wasting disease that affects 700,000 people worldwide. In a patient cell-based screening, Evotec and Facio Therapies (Leiden) have already identified some FSHD candidate drugs, which block the overexpression of the DUX4 protein in skeletal muscle cells that causes muscle atrophy and oxidative stress, hallmarks of the disease. About 20% of people with FSHD end up in a wheelchair. Facio announced it will use the proceeds to select pre-clinical lead candidates for further development. According to the NIH, the field of muscular dystrophies received US$80m in funding in 2017. One tenth of the amount has been channeled into FSHD research. Some companies have already started clinical testing of candidate drugs for treating FSHD. aTyr Pharma, Inc. is in Phase I/IIa testing of the protein drug Resolaris in early onset FSHD. Acceleron Pharma, Inc. has recently started Phase II testing of ACE083, an inhibitor of proteins … Continue reading →

By Michael Oche, Abuja The New Initiative for Credible Leadership, a leading research and development based Civil Society Organization in Nigeria has hailed the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) under the leadership of Professor Mrs. Lucy Ogbadu for her innovations in biotechnology and genetic engineering in the country. NABDA is an organization aimed at promoting, coordinating, and setting research and development priority in biotechnology for Nigeria. NICreL noted the ongoing economic quandary in Nigeria as a result of fall in oil prices calls for all stakeholders to put on their thinking cap for the country to move away from its over dependency and focus on other sectors, particularly agriculture which was the mainstream of the countrys gross national earnings was booming before the advent crude oil. Addressing newsmen on the activities of Nigerias research institutions in Abuja, Reverend Steven Onwu, Executive Secretary of the Centre, averred that NABDA within the last two years has continued to work assiduously hard under its mandate to put the nation at par with global realities through its various innovations, scientific breakthroughs in the field of genetics and intellectual acumen to move the country forward. Onwu noted that Professor Ogbadu is demonstrating to Nigerians through … Continue reading →

June should be national cancer month. Each year around this time, oncology groups and Wall Street brokerages hold a rash of conferences where researchers reveal the latest, greatest potential cancer cures. This year has been no exception. Above all, we learned about remarkable advances in two exciting cancer therapies and three great companies that will benefit. Heres more detail. (Ive kept the technical language to a minimum.) Tumors are smart. They know how to trick the immune system into missing them. But scientists are wising up to their tricks. In one evasive strategy, tumors release an enzyme that renders them invisible. If you block the enzyme, your immune system can find tumors and destroy them with the help from cancer drugs. This is the key to an early-stage cancer weapon you should invest in, known as IDO inhibitors. IDO stands for Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, an enzyme released by tumors to blind the bodys immune system. IDO is a strange drug target, because IDO inhibition by itself has no noticeable anti-cancer effect, says Tanguy Seiwert, a cancer-therapy researcher and medical doctor who teaches at the University of Chicago. Suppressing IDO, however, makes tumors vulnerable. The best pure play in IDO inhibitors is … Continue reading →

Sifelani Tsiko recently in Lilongwe, Malawi An industrial development strategy could be built on the back of Africas agricultural sector underpinned by the adoption of new and emerging technologies such as biotechnology to support improved yields, value addition and services that feed into the whole agro-processing value chain, a top Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) official says. Getachew Belay, a senior biotechnology policy advisor told Zimpapers Syndication recently on the sidelines of a communication training workshop for journalists on biotechnology and biosafety, that the adoption of genetically modified cotton developed using a bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) which naturally produces a chemical harmful only to a small fraction of insects such as the bollworm, could increase yields and enhance competitiveness. He says cotton farmers in Africa suffer huge losses due to pest problems. The most destructive of pests is the African bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera), which can cause severe losses of up to 100 percent like we saw on some cotton fields in Salima here in Malawi, the Comesa biotech policy advisor says. In unprotected fields pest damage can be very severe and when you look at Bt cotton crop on trial you can see hope that its possible … Continue reading →

On eve of biotech's big convention, Biotechnology Innovation ... San Francisco Business Times Ahead of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization's annual convention in San Diego, we talk to Jim Greenwood, the president and CEO of the industry trade ... The BIO International Convention Kicks Off Four Days of ...Business Wire (press release) all 3 news articles » More: On eve of biotech's big convention, Biotechnology Innovation ... - San Francisco Business Times … Continue reading →

Dustin Rhoads of Trumann is participating in Biotechnology Research Internship at Arkansas Biosciences Institute. (Photo provided) Five Arkansas State University students are pursuing their interest in science this summer through the Biotechnology Research Internship Program at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) facility on campus. One of those students, Dustin Rhoads, is from Trumann. The program provides basic support for A-State undergraduate science majors who want research experience in life sciences or applications of life sciences during the summer of their sophomore or junior years. Each student is matched with a faculty mentor who is conducting research related to biotechnology or biology from one of several departments and colleges, based largely on the student's interests. Selection also is based on academic credentials. The students, along with their future plans and comments from their applications are: Dustin Rhoads plans to go to dental school after completing his degree at A-State. His faculty mentor also is Dr. Malathi Srivatsan. "I chose to apply for this internship mostly because of my interest in the field," Rhoads said. "Neurology has always been and interest of mine. Furthermore, the research we are doing at Dr. Srivatsan's Lab could be used to help so many people. Neuroregeneration … Continue reading →