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The biopharma industry continues to face challenges this year, with projected returns on investment in R&D at the lowest levels since our analysis began in 2010. However, there are opportunities to reverse this trend, which will require new ways of working and a complete digital transformation to unlock R&D productivity and deliver the next generation of scientific breakthroughs.

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The University of Maryland, Baltimore has granted Educational & Scientific, LLC an exclusive license with the potential to treat prostate cancer, UM Ventures announced Monday. The agreement allows Educational & Scientific to develop Galeterone, a molecule that could inhibit prostate cancer growth in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer. The molecule has had successful Phase 1 and Phase ...

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The research institute founded and headed by J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., yesterday won the dismissal of a federal lawsuit filed against it by the company he co-founded four years ago to develop and apply large-scale computing and machine learning toward making discoveries intended to revolutionize the practice of medicine. Judge William Q. Hayes of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California sided with the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) by dismissing the lawsuit brought against it by Human Longevity Inc. (HLI), the company Venter co-founded in 2014.

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General Electric has filed paperwork for an IPO of its health-care unit, GE Healthcare, according to people familiar with the matter.

GE is working with JPMorgan Chase on an initial public offering that would likely come mid-2019, someone familiar with the plans told CNBC. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are also working with GE, according to Bloomberg News. The new public company would rank among the largest in the world.

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It wouldn’t be a stretch to call 2018 the year RNA-based treatments, such as those applying RNA interference (RNAi) or small interfering RNA (siRNA), finally reached the proverbial tipping point predicted ever since Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering RNAi.

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Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that Health Canada has approved the company’s New Drug Submission (NDS) for its anthrax vaccine, BioThrax® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed). BioThrax is indicated for active immunization for the prevention of disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, in individuals 18 through 65 years of age, whose occupation or other activities place them at risk of exposure, regardless of the route of exposure. BioThrax is administered in a three-dose primary schedule (0, 1 and 6 months) with boosters at three-year intervals recommended thereafter. BioThrax was approved under the Extraordinary Use New Drug Regulations, which provide a regulatory pathway for products for which collecting clinical information for its intended use in humans is logistically or ethically not possible.

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Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: SENS) a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of a long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for people with diabetes, today has announced that the Eversense® Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System has been awarded one of Popular Science’s 2018 “Best of What’s New” Awards in the Health category.

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University of Maryland (UM) Ventures and Educational & Scientific, LLC (ESL) announced today that the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has again granted ESL an exclusive license for a novel cancer treatment. This agreement focuses on the development of Galeterone, a molecule with the potential to inhibit prostate cancer growth in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Galeterone is a steroidal antiandrogen that acts by disrupting the androgen receptor signaling pathway, which is the primary pathway that drives prostate cancer growth.

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BullFrog AI, Inc, a precision pharmaceutical company built around a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) platform, proudly announces the addition of executive Everett Lee as its Chief Technology Officer.  Mr. Lee brings nearly 3 decades of technical expertise and continuous advancement in technology management, strategic business planning and IT organizational leadership at major pharmaceutical/biotech and drug development companies such as AstraZeneca, Roche/Genentech, Eli Lilly & Co., Pfizer and Covance.

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Intelligent nanobots offer the promise of smart drug delivery systems for a variety of therapeutic applications. A promise that experts in the field believe will become a reality within the next 30-40 years.

But at MedImmune, we don’t think patients should have to wait.

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The idea of using patients’ own immune cells to fight cancer is over a hundred years old. In the late 19th century, an American doctor called William Coley attempted to treat cancer by stimulating the immune system with dangerous bacteria, arguably the first example of what is now known as immunotherapy. His procedure appeared to shrink some patients’ tumours, but was criticised as unsafe and largely forgotten about. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy became the focus of cancer research and the standard tumour treatment for the rest of the 20th century.

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The last time GEN compiled a list of CEOs, investors, and others with the biggest stakes in biopharma companies—what GEN calls “molecular millionaires”—was last year, based on 2016 data. Only one new person who had not been listed in previous editions made the cut back then.

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This eighth, biennial report focuses on the economic progress and footprint of the industry geographically including the performance, positioning and latest trends in the bioscience industry for the nation, states and metropolitan areas. For the first time, it includes a national assessment of the full economic impact of the bioscience industry not only in terms of employment, but also with respect to economic output and fiscal impacts. In addition, the report details the nation’s academic research activities and trends in federal funding, access to critical angel and venture capital and the innovation outputs context via patent activities.

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In a world where it seems like startups are created every other day and market economics remain largely unpredictable, securing funding for your biotech startup can prove to be an arduous task. Venture capitalists prefer tested and proven biotech enterprises, government- and NGO-backed funding remain ever so slightly out of reach, and every other funding outlet seemingly comes with its own set of hard-to-match requirements and specifications. What is the fate of the budding startup without experience in the harsh economic climate of today’s biotech ecosphere? As it turns out, it's not quite as bad as one would expect. It’s all down to knowing the ropes and peculiarities of the market.

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After months of anticipation, the just released draft paper Return on Investment Initiative to Advance the President’s Management Agenda: Unleashing American Innovation signals that the Administration is serious about addressing a wide range of long neglected issues undermining effective technology commercialization. The paper, generated under the leadership of Commerce Under Secretary Walter Copan, who heads the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is “a discussion document”  based on feedback from a series of public meetings and written comments for improving the return on investment from $150 B spent annually on government-supported R&D.

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The most common analogy used to compare the science of DNA to other industries is that of computer software. DNA can be viewed as a series of commands (genes) that are coded in four nucleotides (represented by A, G, C, and T). Those letters are interpreted by the cellular machinery to produce cell products like enzymes, proteins, and various building blocks of the cell itself. This code somewhat parallels the “machine language” of computers. Computer’s lists of commands (coded in zeros and ones) are interpreted to work with numbers or any type of information that is converted to numbers (like audio, video, or sensor data). Resulting numbers generate numerical output for machinery such as screen displays, motors, tools, robots, digital controls, etc.

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2018 was a year in which we saw explosive growth at Mimetas. After such a hectic and promising year, it is important to take a moment to sit down and recap some of the highlights. Today, we sit down with our CEOs, Jos and Paul. In this conversation, you will read their thoughts about the Mimetas culture, corporate dynamics, amazing new products, and the strengths they perceive in each other.

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When it comes to drug discovery and development, nowadays a lot of the work is done by small- or medium-sized healthcare companies. The biopharma industry heavily relies on their results, so SMEs carry an immense load on their shoulders. But without outside help, their mission is nearly impossible.

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A decade ago, a wave of companies promised to transform people’s health by allowing them to track data about their eating, sleep, exercise, and other habits. One hot startup of that moment, Zeo, raised more than $30 million from investors to develop a headband that tracked users’ sleep patterns and an accompanying app to serve as their personal “sleep coach.” Despite devoted users and buzz about its product in publications like Wired and Popular Science, Zeo quietly went out of business a few years later.

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Swedish bioprinting company CELLINK has entered into a partnership with organ and tissue engineering company Prellis Biologics, Inc. with the goal of commercializing high-resolution holographic bioprinting technology for micro-scale printing. By combining their IP and respective expertise, the companies will introduce what they call the “first system enabling ultra-high resolution bioprinting of microstructures” for producing vascular networks.

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QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced that a clinical development program is underway with Novartis to bring to market a molecular test as a companion diagnostic to guide the use of the investigational compound BYL719 (alpelisib) in combination with fulvestrant for men and postmenopausal women living with PIK3CA mutated hormone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 negative (HR+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

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Perhaps the greatest promise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is its potential to enhance our ability to predict, diagnose, and treat disease.

That is why our researchers are continuing to look for new ways to leverage AI to aid our discovery and delivery of effective therapies.