R&D Trends

Merck, GE Healthcare collaborate on imaging biomarkers for BACE inhibitor program

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 01:18 PM

Merck and GE Healthcare have formed a clinical study collaboration, license and supply agreement for use of [18F]Flutemetamol, an investigational positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agent, to support Merck's development of MK-8931, a novel oral beta amyloid precursor protein site cleaving enzyme (BACE) inhibitor and Merck's lead investigational candidate for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

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Oncodesign, KU Leuven, Ipsen collaborate on advancing drug discovery in Parkinson's disease

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:11 AM

Oncodesign, a biotech based in France, and the Laboratory for Neurobiology and Gene Therapy (LNGT) at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, have entered into a research collaboration to evaluate, along with a global specialty-driven pharmaceutical company Ipsen, Oncodesign’s compounds in multiple pharmacology models for Parkinson's disease.

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New company NeRRe Therapeutics created to develop neurokinin antagonists from GSK

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 10:42 AM

NeRRe Therapeutics, a new drug discovery company, has been launched to develop a portfolio of clinical and pre-clinical neurokinin receptor antagonists divested from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

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Arrowhead, Shire ink agreement to develop peptide-targeted therapeutics

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 09:41 AM

Arrowhead Research, a clinical stage targeted therapeutics company, has signed a research collaboration and license agreement with Shire, a specialty biopharmaceutical company, to develop and commercialize targeted peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs) by utilizing Arrowhead's human-derived Homing Peptide platform and Shire's therapeutic payloads.

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Sutro, Celgene to develop next-gen ADCs and bispecific antibodies

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 09:14 AM

Sutro Biopharma, a San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company, has formed a collaboration with Celgene, a multinational biopharmaceutical company, to design and develop novel antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and bispecific antibodies for two undisclosed targets and to manufacture a proprietary Celgene antibody.

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Zuckerman gives $200M to Columbia University, endows Mind Brain Behavior Institute

Tuesday, December 18, 2012 12:29 PM

Mortimer B. Zuckerman has pledged $200 million to endow a Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University to support interdisciplinary neuroscience research and discovery by scholars across the university.

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IMI launches $319M 8th call for proposals

Tuesday, December 18, 2012 10:41 AM

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the world’s largest public-private partnership in health, is launching its eighth call for proposals. With a total budget of $319 million ($188 million cash from IMI, plus a $131 million in-kind contribution from participating EFPIA companies), the projects resulting from this call will tackle some of the biggest challenges in health research.

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Phenex, Janssen form research collaboration on autoimmune, inflammatory disorders

Monday, December 17, 2012 02:09 PM

Phenex Pharmaceuticals, a privately held drug discovery and development company based in Germany, has entered into an agreement with Janssen Biotech and its affiliates to jointly discover compounds that target the nuclear hormone receptor RORγT and may have utility in the treatment of chronic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease.

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Thiel Foundation’s Breakout Labs awards three new grants

Friday, December 14, 2012 02:03 PM

The Thiel Foundation has announced three new grants awarded to AVEtec, General Genomics, and Siva Therapeutics through Breakout Labs, its revolving fund to promote innovation in science and technology.

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Eisai, UCL form drug discovery alliance for neurological diseases

Friday, December 14, 2012 10:43 AM

Eisai, a pharmaceutical company based in Toyko, and University College London (UCL) have entered into a new agreement to establish a major drug discovery and development collaboration investigating new ways of treating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other related disorders.

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