Articles By Cyndi Root

  1. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Acquires Artilysin Proteins For Multi-Resistant Bacteria From Lysando 8/15/2014

    The Boehringer Ingelheim Group announced in a press release that its animal health division, Vetmedica, has acquired a new technology from Lysando to address the severe, global threat of antibacterial resistance in humans and animals.

  2. Theraclone Licenses Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies For HIV To Gilead 8/6/2014

    Theraclone Sciences announced in a press release that it has agreed to license its broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) products to Gilead. The exclusive development and commercialization license is a collaboration between the two companies to find new treatments for HIV. The bNAbs were discovered by Theraclone, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and The Scripps Research Institute using Theraclone’s I-STAR technology, which enables researchers to rapidly test of tens of thousands of fully human antibodies.

  3. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Allied Minds Form Enterprise To Mine Academia For Drug Discoveries 8/6/2014

    Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) announced in a press release that it has formed a new company with Allied Minds to identify promising drugs at universities. The new alliance is part of a growing trend in the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government to mine academia for therapeutic candidates. The Telegraph reports that AstraZeneca and Pfizer are pursuing similar strategies, while Novartis has gone about creating a university-type atmosphere at its headquarters.

  4. NIH Works With FDA To Fast-Track Ebola Vaccine To Clinical Trials 8/5/2014

    The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that it plans to move an experimental Ebola vaccine into human clinical trials in the fall of 2014. In development for many years, the NIH says that the vaccine for the deadly virus was encouraging in the primate model. The agency is working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to fast-track the clinical trial and it is working with pharmaceutical companies to find a commercial partner to scale up production if the studies show positive results. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told USA Today, that, "We are starting to discuss some deals with pharmaceutical companies to help scale it up, so on an emergency basis, it might be available in 2015 for health workers who are putting themselves at extreme risk.”

  5. NIH Awards $49M Grant To SRI For HIV/AIDS Drug Development 7/31/2014
    SRI Biosciences announced in a press release that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the company a seven-year grant of $49 million for HIV/AIDS drug development. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH, is administering the grant for preclinical development of potential therapies, including the infections prevalent in the disease. The grant also funds research for microbicides to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV.
  6. Cellectis Sells Swedish Subsidiary Cellectis AB To Takara Bio 7/31/2014
    Cellectis announced in a press release that it has sold its Swedish subsidiary Cellectis AB to Takara Bio, a Japanese company. The sale, to be finalized soon, allows Cellectis to refocus on oncology therapies and its Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CART) immunotherapy products. Cellectis is currently partnered with Servier, Pfizer, and Accelera, a contract research organization (CRO), on CART technology. Cellectis also recently announced an agreement with European CELLforCURE to manufacture clinical batches of Cellectis’ CART cells. The sale is part of Cellectis’ restructuring effort.
  7. Shire Partners With ArmaGen On AGT-182 For Hunter Syndrome 7/25/2014

    Shire announced in a press release that it has partnered with ArmaGen, a U.S. biotechnology company, on AGT-182 for Hunter syndrome. The investigational enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) has potential in treating the central nervous system (CNS) symptoms of the rare disease. Shire states that the new collaboration demonstrates its commitment to the Hunter syndrome community and strengthens its rare disease pipeline.

  8. Aarhus University, Bionor Pharma Use Celgene's Istodax To Lure HIV 7/25/2014

    Researchers from Aarhus University and Bionor Pharma presented an abstract at the Aids 2014 congress in Melbourne regarding a small study that used Celgene’s Istodax (romidepsin) to lure HIV hidden in reservoirs in the body. Driving the virus into the open makes it susceptible to antiretroviral therapy. Medscape reports that Sharon Lewin, MD, co-chair of the meeting organizing committee, said the results were the first of its kind and significant; waking up the long-lived, sleeping forms of the virus and making it leave the cell is a big step. Steven Deeks, MD, from the University of California at San Francisco, said, "I think this is the single most important advance we've heard of at this meeting, and it's going to have a huge impact in the future."

  9. AbbVie Acquires Shire To Reincorporate In U.K. 7/21/2014
    AbbVie and Shire announced in a cooperation agreement that AbbVie has agreed to acquire Shire in a $54 billion takeover deal. The acquisition of the U.K. pharmaceutical company will allow AbbVie to reincorporate in the U.K. and lower its tax bill from 23 percent in the U.S. to 13 percent in the U.K., according to The New York Times. The deal follows a recent trend of U.S. firms reincorporating in the U.K. to lower taxes, although top executives including AbbVie’s CEO Richard A. Gonzalez, have denied that the primary reason is financial. Rather, he says the Shire acquisition was a strategic fit.
  10. White House, WHO Commit To Global Action Plan On Antimicrobial Resistance 7/15/2014
    The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a press release to invite contributions to its global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. The U.S. White House and other G7 nations joined the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR GAP) in June 2014. WHO intends to present the draft global action plan to the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly in 2015, as per the assembly’s request in 2014. WHO states, “It therefore now invites organizations, institutions, networks, civil-society groups, national authorities, and ministries to contribute to the development of the action plan by taking part in an online consultation.”