The Dish’s Weekly Biotechnology News Wrap Up – December 12, 2014
This week’s biotechnology news headlines include, Ebola news, CRISPR patent licensing, Merck looking to acquire Cubist, FDA approves HPV vaccine that covers more strains, Gene Therapy for blood disorder, and lymphoma patients respond to BMS drug.
Cell Culture Events
February
Cell Line Development and Engineering – February 9-12, 2014, Dublin Ireland
http://www.informa-ls.com/event/Cellline
7th Annual Global Biomanufacturing Summit – February 18-20, 2015, Orange County, CA
With the affordable care act and added FDA pressure on companies to cut costs to the end user it has become imperative that the biological manufacturing industry optimizes and streamlines its processes in order to maintain profit margins and stay competitive.
The 7th Annual Global Biological Manufacturing Summit 2015 has been designed to enhance collaboration, discussion and networking amongst the Biological Manufacturing community.
The 2015 will programme will feature three dedicated streams, each tackling the latest challenges for the industry: Manufacturing, Supply chain, Quality and Regulation. Each stream will feature the most esteemed companies in their fields, including UCB, GSK, MEDIMMUNE GENENTECH, M W GROUP, KINAXIS.
Visit http://biomansummit.com/ for more information.
Book now via The Cell Culture Dish and save 15%
Cell Culture World Congress – February 23-25, 2015 –Munich Germany
http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/cell-culture/index.stm
Headlines
“U.S. agency offers legal immunity to Ebola vaccine makers,” Reuters
“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday offered liability protections to drugmakers rushing to develop Ebola vaccines and urged other countries to follow suit.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Three vaccines in development are poised to make significant impact on global public health“
“FDA: Some Ebola Patients Need To Get Placebo,” Forbes
“There’s been a pretty fierce debate in public health circles over a pressing question: when testing drugs to treat Ebola virus or vaccines that might prevent infection, do we need to do randomized controlled trials in which some patients get placebo, or is Ebola — like some forms of cancer — so deadly that you can tell a drug is working just by giving it.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “The Benefits of Implementing Bioprocess Monitoring and Quality by Design in Process Development“
“GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Sigma-Aldrich License CRISPR/Cas9 Patents,” Genetic Engineering News
“The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard signed non-exclusive license agreements granting access to its intellectual property relating to the CRISPR/Cas9 gene engineering system for research purposes to GE Healthcare Life Sciences and Sigma-Aldrich, the companies said separately today.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Genome Editing and Associated Technologies”
“Merck in talks to acquire Cubist for over $8 billion: Sources,” CNBC
“Drug giant Merck is in talks to acquire antibiotics maker Cubist for about $102 a share in cash, according to people familiar with the matter.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Last Week’s BioProcess International Conference and Exhibition”
“Groups merge to form big California biotech lobbying group,” San Francisco Chronicle
“The Bay Area biotech industry’s advocacy organization is merging with another group to become a newly created organization that will represent all of California’s biomedical industry.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Raw Material Sourcing for Cell Culture Media – Important Considerations”
“FDA Approves Cervical Cancer Vaccine That Covers More HPV Strains,” HealthDay
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a new vaccine with expanded protection against the human papillomavirus (HPV), by far the leading cause of cervical and certain other cancers.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Where’s the Beef!?”
“Bluebird shares leap after Gene Therapy seen as cure for blood disorder,” Reuters
“Shares of drug developer bluebird bio Inc shot up on Tuesday, after the company presented data that showed a cure for beta-thalassemia is within reach, prompting several brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “The Second Annual 24 Hours of Stem Cells Virtual Conference”
“High rate of lymphoma patients respond to Bristol-Myers drug-study,” Reuters
“Eighty-seven percent of Hodgkin lymphoma patients responded to a Bristol-Myers Squibb drug that helps the immune system fight the blood cancer, according to data from a small, early stage trial released on Saturday.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cool Tool – Creating the Perfect Scientific Poster,”