R&D Trends

Merck, Samsung Bioepis ink biosimilars development agreement

Friday, February 22, 2013 11:45 AM

Global healthcare company Merck and Samsung Bioepis, a joint venture between Samsung Biologics and Biogen Idec, entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize multiple pre-specified and undisclosed biosimilar candidates.

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Abbott, Janssen, Pharmacyclics to develop companion test for leukemia therapy

Friday, February 22, 2013 11:16 AM

Global healthcare company Abbott has formed a collaboration with Janssen Biotech and Pharmacyclics, a biopharmaceutical company based in Sunnyvale, Calif., to explore the benefits of Abbott's proprietary FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) technology for use in developing a molecular companion diagnostic test to identify patients with a genetic subtype of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common form of adult leukemia.

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NIH funds research to identify Parkinson's biomarkers

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 03:46 PM

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded a three-year, $900,000 grant to the Center for Biomedical Imaging Statistics at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health. The grant will fund the center's biomarker research in Parkinson's disease to identify non-invasive imaging measures that can detect changes in brain function and biochemistry.

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Québec invests in public-private partnership for personalized cancer medicine

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 10:55 AM

The Québec government has invested $10 million in the Personalized Medicine Partnership for Cancer (PMPC), a public-private partnership focused on establishing an integrated approach for the development and implementation of clinical biomarkers and other personalized healthcare solutions to improve the outcome and cost-efficiency of healthcare services provided to cancer patients.

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Roche, Chiasma to develop Octreolin for acromegaly, neuroendocrine tumors

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 09:58 AM

Basel, Switzerland-based Roche and Chiasma, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, have entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize Chiasma's proprietary product Octreolin, initially for acromegaly and subsequently for neuroendocrine tumors.

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Biocon, Mylan enhance partnership with insulin products collaboration

Friday, February 15, 2013 11:45 AM

Biocon, a biotechnology company based in India, has formed a strategic collaboration with Mylan, a global pharmaceutical company, for for the global development and commercialization of generic versions of its three insulin analog products.

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New IMI projects to revitalize antibiotic development

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 02:04 PM

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the world’s largest public-private partnership in health care, has launched the first two projects under its antimicrobial resistance research program, New Drugs for Bad Bugs (ND4BB). The new projects, COMBACTE (Combating Bacterial Resistance in Europe) and TRANSLOCATION (Molecular basis of the bacterial cell wall permeability), are set to revitalize antibiotic development by promoting greater collaboration within the entire antibiotic development community, and by tackling key challenges to the development of new medicines.

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RQx Pharmaceuticals, collaborate on novel drug compounds

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 11:29 AM

RQx Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing broad-spectrum small molecule antibiotics for serious life-threatening infections, has entered into a drug discovery collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, for the discovery and development of novel drug compounds for an undisclosed target.

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Lycera, Merck ink autoimmune collaboration

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 11:01 AM

Lycera, a biopharmaceutical company focused on autoimmune diseases, has signed a collaboration agreement with Merck, to discover, develop and commercialize small-molecule therapies directed to selected novel targets being investigated for the treatment of a broad range of immune-mediated disorders.

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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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