R&D Trends

MorphoSys, Heptares to develop antibody therapeutics targeting GPCRs

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 10:03 AM

MorphoSys, a biotechnology company focused on fully human antibodies, and Heptares Therapeutics, a developer of new medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), have signed an agreement to discover novel antibody therapeutics targeting GPCRs—membrane proteins involved in a broad range of biological processes and diseases.

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Janssen, Bayer, Portola form clinical collaboration

Friday, February 8, 2013 11:17 AM

Janssen Pharmaceuticals has signed a clinical collaboration agreement with Portola Pharmaceuticals and Bayer HealthCare to evaluate the safety of PRT4445—an investigational-stage antidote for Factor Xa inhibitors—in healthy volunteers who have been administered the oral anticoagulant Xarelto (rivaroxaban). The study will evaluate several dosage strengths of PRT4445 and its ability to reverse the anticoagulant activity of Xarelto in emergency situations.

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$262M Pan-European drug discovery platform launched

Friday, February 8, 2013 10:48 AM

The European Lead Factory, a novel platform for innovative drug discovery, was launched Feb. 7 by an international consortium of 30 partners. The partnership, the first of its kind, is supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and creates opportunities for the discovery of new medicines by providing public partners with an “industry-like” discovery platform to translate cutting-edge academic research into high-quality drug lead molecules on a scale and speed that was not possible previously.

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British public wants to crowdfund innovative companies

Tuesday, February 5, 2013 08:00 AM

The British public wants the opportunity to crowdfund innovative British companies. That is the message from a YouGov survey commissioned by the BioIndustry Association (BIA) which shows that nearly nine out of 10 U.K. adults who expressed a preference agree that the general public should be provided with the opportunity to invest modest sums of money, if they wish to, into funds that will be targeted towards innovative companies.

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The Medicines Company, Alnylam develop RNAi therapeutics for hypercholesterolemia

Monday, February 4, 2013 09:51 AM

The Medicines Company, a global pharmaceutical company, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, an RNAi therapeutics company, have formed an exclusive global alliance for the development and commercialization of Alnylam's ALN-PCS RNAi therapeutic program targeting PCSK9 for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

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Foresite closes $100M growth capital fund for late-stage healthcare companies

Friday, February 1, 2013 02:12 PM

Foresite Capital Management, a growth equity firm founded by Jim Tananbaum to finance late-stage healthcare companies, has closed its $100 million fund, Foresite Capital Fund I. The firm draws on Tananbaum and his partners' experience and expertise in building leading healthcare companies, as well as their broad private and public investment experience.

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Life Technologies establishes international influenza network

Friday, February 1, 2013 01:14 PM

Life Technologies, a global biotechnology company, has established the Global Influenza Network, a partnership including scientists at a number of the world's leading government public health organizations, veterinary agencies and research institutes in a collaborative effort to increase the speed and efficiency of influenza monitoring and vaccine development.

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Curie-Cancer, GenoSplice ink bioinformatics partnership for cancer genomics

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 12:32 PM

Curie-Cancer, the body responsible for developing comprehensive cancer center Institut Curie’s industry partnership activities, and GenoSplice Technology, a developer of bioinformatics solutions for analysis of genomic data, have formed a partnership to combine their expertise.

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Orexo, AZ enter research agreement for respiratory disease program

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 12:04 PM

Orexo, emerging specialty pharmaceutical company based in Sweden, has entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca regarding OX-CLI, a preclinical program for a potential novel treatment of respiratory diseases.

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Afraxis grants exclusive global license to Genentech

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 09:42 AM

Afraxis, a San Diego-based biotechnology company fully funded by Avalon Ventures, has entered into a global licensing agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to develop compounds for an undisclosed novel target.

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