This week’s biotechnology news headlines include,

Merck drug gets FDA approval as a first-line lung cancer treatment, EMA publishes clinical reports online, Glaxo seeks FDA approval for shingles vaccine, Unicef cuts cost of vaccine that protects against 5 diseases, GSK joins with Fimbrion to develop UTI drug, Heat and University of Miami seek to create fetal Zika vaccine, and Selexis to Provide ImmuNext with Cell Lines for Research into Treatment for MS, Autoimmune Diseases.

Cell Culture Events

Workshops:

GE Healthcare Single-use Symposium – Boston, MA – November 1-2, 2016

When:

Tuesday, November 1, 2016-Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST

Marriott Long Wharf, 96 State St., Boston Massachusetts 02109

Register Here

Bioprocess Insights Webinars

The biopharmaceutical industry has developed into a multi-billion dollar market in just 30 years. Making decisions and setting up strategies in a rapidly changing environment can be challenging. The difference between a good and a great decision can have extensive implications for the future of a company. In this environment, knowledge and experience are what make the difference. Good insights about, for example, technical advancements, process economy implications, and sustainability aspects can help improve the individual decisions and strengthen the overall business strategy.

In this webinar series, four renowned subject matter experts will share their insights into four areas of bioprocessing: upstream, vaccines, downstream, and single-use technology. We will present tangible, recently developed data that can help you in developing modern, cost-efficient, and sustainable bioprocesses.

Don’t miss these on demand webinars – http://www.bioprocessintl.com/sponsored-content/bioprocess-insights-webinars/

Conferences:

November

• 2^nd Annual Cell & Gene Therapy Congress – November 3-4, 2016 – London, UK – http://www.celltherapy-congress.com/Over 250 delegates representing leading biotech companies, global pharma organisations and internationally renowned academic institutions.Over 20 presentations and case studies focused on the key issues in cell & Gene Therapy development, updates in regulatory pathways, commercialisation, bioprocessing and manufacturing2 interactive streams:Cell & Gene Therapy: Development, Clinical Trials & CommercialisationCell Therapy Bioprocessing and ManufacturingCo-located with the established 5th Annual Cell Culture & Bioprocessing Congress and 3rd Annual Stem Cell CongressFree Pre-Congress WebinarAdvances In Gene Editing Technologies
  Presented by Richard Morgan, Vice President, Immunotherapy at Bluebird Bio. – Register for free today >>
• 5th Annual Cell Culture & Bioprocessing Congress – November 3-4, 2016 – London, UK – http://www.cellculture-congress.com/Over 170 delegates representing leading biotech companies, global pharma organisations and internationally renowned academic institutions50 presentations, case studies and panel discussions focused on the key issues in cell line optimisation, process development and biological production4 interactive streams:Early Cell Line DevelopmentProcess DevelopmentLate Stage Cell Line DevelopmentBiological Production14 pre-scheduled one to one meetings, exhibition and informal networking opportunitiesCo-located with the 3rd Annual Stem Cell Congress and the 2nd Annual Cell & Gene Therapy Congress

If you are attending, don’t miss the  Reception on Thursday evening.

• TIDES Europe – November 14-17, 2016 – Berlin, Germany – http://get.knect365.com/tides-europe/TIDES Europe is the place where oligo and peptide experts go to meet and build successful partnerships to accelerate products from early discovery through late stage development and commercialisation. In 2015 Tides Europe attracted a 40% increase in attendance across the oligo and peptide audience.
• World Immunotherapy Congress 2016 – November 14-16, 2016 – Basel Switzerland http://bit.ly/1rbnrYy

• World Precision Medicine – November 14-15, 2016 – Washington DC

The World Precision Medicine Congress USA is bringing together big pharma, big data, and healthcare providers to discuss the scientific, economic, and policy goals towards producing precise and genomic-based medicines. Partnered with forward-looking industry leaders such as precisionFDA and NantWorks, this event will fast-track our momentum into the future paradigm of healthcare by spurring the important discussions to get us there.

Can you afford to miss this gathering of precision medicine leaders? Pharma, big data, and healthcare providers will be there attending sessions on Gene Therapy, Cell Therapy, personalized medicine, and genomics.

Download the brochure: http://bit.ly/1N3Y0vI

Register to attend: http://bit.ly/1ObpkNV

December

• ASCB – December 3-7, 2016 – San Francisco, CA http://ascb.org/meetings/

• World Stem Cell Summit & RegMed Capital Conference– December 6-9, 2016 – West Palm Beach, Florida http://worldstemcellsummit.com/

• Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics – December 11-15, 2016 – San Diego, CA http://www.ibclifesciences.com/AntibodyEng/overview.xml

• Global Biomanufacturing Summit – December 12-14, 2016 – San Diego, CA http://biomansummit.com/

Headlines:

“Merck Drug Gets FDA Approval as a First-Line Lung Cancer Treatment,” The Wall Street Journal

“Merck & Co.’s immunotherapy cancer drug Keytruda received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval as a first-line treatment for certain lung cancer patients.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cool Tool – ClinEss® – A tissue preservation and transportation medium provides protection of cells and allows for tissue to be stabilized without fixation”

“EMA Transparency: New Clinical Reports Go Live,” Regulatory Focus

“The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday kicked off its effort to proactively publish clinical trials data with the release of clinical reports for two drugs, Kyprolis and Zurampic, via a new online database.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Non-Invasive Stem Cell Characterization and Predicting Differentiation using Luminex Assays”

“Glaxo Seeks FDA Approval for Experimental Shingles Vaccine,” Bloomberg

“GlaxoSmithKline Plc said it sought regulatory approval in the U.S. for its experimental shingles vaccine which, if successful, could generate more than $700 million in annual sales for the British drugmaker and compete with Merck & Co.’s Zostavax”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Boston Biotech Week 2016 – Downstream Coverage – In case you missed it!”

“Unicef Cuts Cost of Vaccine That Protects Against 5 Diseases,” The New York Times

“The United Nations Children’s Fund has made a deal with six vaccine manufacturers that will cut in half the price of a shot that protects children against five diseases, the fund announced last week.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Gain Productivity in Protein Purification through Column Loading Optimization”

“GSK links with Fimbrion to develop UTI drug,” PharmaTimes

“GlaxoSmithKline has formed a partnership with US biotech Fimbrion Therapeutics to develop a first-in-class small molecule drug for the treatment and prevention of urinary tract infections (UTIs).”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Predicting Differentiation and Characterizing Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Non-invasive Multi-analyte Luminex® Assays”

“Heat, UMiami seek to create fetal Zika vaccine,” BioCentury

“Heat Biologics Inc. (NASDAQ:HTBX) and the University of Miami said they are collaborating to develop vaccines targeting the Zika virus and other infectious diseases based on Heat’s heat shock 90 kDa protein beta 1 (Hsp90B1; GP96; GRP94) vaccine platform. Heat CEO Jeff Wolf told BioCentury that using GP96 to induce an immune response in the placenta could allow the partners to develop the first vaccine to provide fetal protection against Zika.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Reduce Cell Line Development Time by 30% and Simplify Proof of Clonality – A Case Study”

“Selexis to Provide ImmuNext with Cell Lines for Research into Treatment for MS, Autoimmune Diseases,” Multiple Sclerosis News Today

“Selexis has entered into a commercial arrangement with ImmuNext, providing that company with access to research cell banks from its SURE technology Platform (a best-in-class cell line development technology). ImmuNext will use the cell banks in further developing its anti-CD40 ligand antibody, a potential therapeutic agent for chronic autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS).”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Gene Therapy Strengthened by Recent Successes”