|
Other News To Note
(BioWorld Today Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) , of St. Paul, Minn., signed a nonexclusive license agreement with Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis Group's vaccines division to provide its Toll-like receptor agonist compounds for use as vaccine adjuvants. In exchange, 3M will receive an undisclosed licensing fee, as well as potential milestones and royalties.
? Abraxis BioScience Inc., of Los Angeles, and partner AstraZeneca plc, of London, are funding several investigator-initiated studies of their FDA-approved breast cancer drug Abraxane (paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension), which will be conducted by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The studies will evaluate Abraxane treatment and SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine) levels in breast, non-small-cell lung, head and neck, melanoma and ovarian cancers. SPARC is linked to poor survival in several cancers, and its interaction with albumin may enhance the effects of Abraxane.
? Advaxis Inc., of North Brunswick, N.J., said research conducted by the company, along with investigators at the University of Pennsylvania and the Hilman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh showed that a live Listeria monocytogenes vaccine designed to deliver a fusion protein composed of a nonhemolytic fragment of listeriolysin O fused to the C fragment of the high molecular weight melanoma-associated antigen was able to reduce and eliminate various tumor types, including melanoma, renal carcinoma and breast cancer, in a mouse model. And animals that eliminated those tumor types after treatment and were reinoculated with new tumor cells did not regrow new tumors. Those data were published in the October 2008 issue of Cancer Research.
? Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., earned a $20 million milestone payment from partner Tokyo-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The milestone is related to the transfer of Alnylam's platform RNAi technology to Takeda for the development of RNAi drugs. The two companies signed a potential $1 billion nonexclusive partnership in May, under which Alnylam already received $100 million up front and expects to receive another $30 million in near-term technology transfer milestones. (See BioWorld Today, May 28, 2008.)
? Antisoma plc, of London, acquired the rights to develop and commercialize anticancer PPM1D (protein phosphatase magnesium-dependent 1 d) inhibitors from nonprofit group the Institute of Cancer Research. Antisoma will make an up-front payment as well as provide milestone payments, research fees and royalties. Specific financial terms were not disclosed. Antisoma plans to continue preclinical development of the compounds and will collaborate with the Institute on additional PPM1D discovery work.
? Ardea Biosciences Inc., of San Diego, presented data from a preclinical study of RDEA119, its lead mitogen-activated ERK kinase (MEK) inhibitor, for inflammatory diseases therapy. Oral administration of RDEA119 was shown to significantly reduce damage to colonic tissue and disease activity in dextran sulfate sodium-induced chronic colitic mice. The beneficial effect of RDEA119 exceeded that of Remicade (infliximab), the current standard of care for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Data were presented at the American College of Gastroenterology 2008 annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
? Catena Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Durham, N.C., said it obtained a worldwide license to intellectual property surrounding antiangiogenic G-protein coupled receptor antagonist compounds from the University of Virginia Patent Foundation. Financial terms were not disclosed. The company also reported that it received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Golden Pine Ventures to launch its product development efforts.
? Cel-Sci Corp., of Vienna, Va., said it entered a material transfer agreement with the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center to investigate the molecular basis of changes to the tumor microenvironment caused by the company's cancer drug Multikine. Under the terms, Cel-Sci will provide tumor samples of Multikine-treated and untreated matched control patients to the NIHCC, which will use molecular genomic microarray technology to look for molecular genomic differences in the tumor microenvironment in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Should significant differences be found, a formal collaboration between Cel-Sci and the NIHCC might be established to expand the study to include patients from Cel-Sci's pivotal Phase III trial. Multikine is an immunotherapeutic agent composed of naturally derived cytokines.
? Dermipsor Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, said it signed a cooperative research and development agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs Boston Research Institute Inc. The collaboration's framework under the agreement covers the advancement of Phase II and III trials. The agreement initially will focus on implementing a scalp psoriasis Phase II study with Dermipsor's DPS-102, a nonsteroidal synergistic combination topical treatment, which is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter. The company said it also is continuing preparations for its plaque psoriasis Phase III trial with its leading drug DPS-101.
? The FDA said it is partnering with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to develop laboratory tests to better predict the level of safety and effectiveness of experimental malaria vaccines before they are used in human clinical trials. The project is expected to span about three years and is being conducted under a cooperative research and development agreement program, which allows federal laboratories and businesses to form partnerships that help expedite research activities. Under the CRADA, PATH-MVI will provide the FDA with about $1.5 million to develop tests for evaluating malaria vaccines early in their development. The CRADA will help develop laboratory tests to assess whether a vaccine candidate is safe enough to begin Phase I trials. There currently are no approved vaccines to prevent malaria but several vaccines are in development, the FDA noted.
? Gene Bridges GmbH, of Heidelberg, German, said that it licensed the rights of its Red/ET recombination technology, a method for generating targeting vectors or modifying E. coli chromosomes, to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan. Recombineering with Red/ET allows cloning, subcloning and modification of DNA at any chosen position and permits precise engineering of DNA molecules of any size, including very large ones such as BACs or the E. coli chromosome, the firm said.
? Integrated BioTherapeutics Inc., of Germantown, Md., said it was awarded a potential $65 million, multiyear contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for advanced development of a vaccine to protect against the Ebola and Marburg viruses. The company said the contract is expected to fund a major portion of the preclinical and clinical activities required to conform and refine the activity of its virus-like particle vaccine in animals and to verify the vaccine's activity in humans. The initial contract is valued at about $22 million and could reach up to $65.2 million if NIAID exercises options following preclinical development to include cGMP manufacturing, Phase I testing, scale-up, lyophilized formulation development and a Phase II study.
? MDRNA Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said it selected a lead candidate in its hypercholesterolemia program targeting apolipoprotein B, known as MDR-04227, a Dicer substrate siRNA formulated with a lipid-based delivery formulation derived from the company's DiLA2 platform. In a preclinical animal model of hypercholesterolemia, MDR-04227 was shown to be extremely potent with an IC50 of less than 100 pM. When formulated for systemic administration using DiLA2, MDR-04227 demonstrated about 85 percent knockdown in target messenger RNA of ApoB and a similar level of reduction of serum cholesterol following a single 1 mg/kg dose of siRNA. The company said it has filed numerous patent applications relating to this siRNA construct and delivery formulation.
? Morria Biopharmaceuticals plc, of London, said results of the ongoing screening of anti-inflammatory drugs using Zurich, Switzerland-based MD Biosciences' Immunoprofiler in vitro screening service showed that Morria's lead compounds significantly reduced the levels of several inflammatory mediators, including granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, inducible protein 10 and prostaglandin E-2. Cell proliferation assay demonstrated that those effects were not caused by cytotoxicity and the anti-inflammatory efficacy was comparable or better than steroid controls.
? Myriad Genetics Inc., of Salt Lake City, said it acquired exclusive North American rights to specific application of technology used to perform pharmacokinetic analysis of therapeutic drugs in patients from Saladax Biomedical Inc., of Bethlehem, Pa. That technology allows physicians to adjust patients' doses of chemotherapy to improve efficacy and minimize toxicity. Terms were not disclosed.
? Summit Corp. plc, of Oxford, UK, said it entered a co-development agreement for its early stage tuberculosis program with the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, a public-private partnership created by Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. to discover and develop new TB drug candidates. Under the terms, the initiative will have an exclusive license to the compounds discovered by Summit in the developing world and will be responsible for future research and development costs. Summit retains all rights in the developed world for use of the compounds in TB and other indications and will have access to any data generated during the initiative's development program.
? Taligen Therapeutics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said in vivo studies in models for several complement-mediated diseases showed that targeted inhibition of the alternative complement pathway slowed or halted disease progression in those models. Researchers investigated whether compound TT30 prevented progression of renal disease in a lupus nephritis murine mode. TT30 is a fusion protein coupling domains from complement receptor 2 (CR2) with the alternative pathway inhibitor factor H. Treatment with the CR2 domain alone led to decreases in autoantibodies, while treatment with TT30 resulted in additional beneficial effects including significantly reduced renal injury, proteinuria and anti-dsDNA antibody levels compared to controls. Data were presented at the XXII International Complement Workshop in Basel, Switzerland.
? Upstream Biosciences Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia , said its second-generation novel antiparasitic agents demonstrated in vitro efficacy against both Leishmaniasis and Trypanosomiasis. Upstream is collaborating with McGill University's Institute of Parasitology to perform further testing on its potential tropical disease treatments.
? Vical Inc., of San Diego, and AnGes MG Inc., of Osaka, Japan, said they have signed a nonbinding letter of intent indicating their mutual interest to license the development and marketing rights for Vical's pandemic influenza DNA vaccines in Japan to AnGes. AnGes plans to conduct due diligence on the vaccines, and both parties intend to negotiate terms and conditions potentially leading to a license, subject to completion of a mutually satisfactory definitive agreement.
?
?
Copyright ? 2008 Thomson BioWorld, All Rights Reserved.
[ Back To Contact Center Solutions Homepage's Homepage ]
|
AltiGen Communications Teams with Nexus Open Systems 
Nimble 2.0 social CRM platform launches
NEW Consolidating Infrastructures: IT's New Call to Business [white paper]
