The Dish’s Weekly Biotechnology News Wrap Up – March 11, 2016
This week’s biotechnology news headlines include, groups scrutinize plan to cut medicare drug costs, Xbiotech ready to file colorectal cancer drug, AbbVie to buy Boehringer immunology treatments, Immunosoft acquires Discovery Genomics, Teva looking to receive approval for Allergan deal, Chapel Hill company receives $25M to develop pediatric pnemonia treatment, and Karolinska finds nanoparticle tech could spur new drug and vaccine targets.
Cell Culture Events
Workshops:
Be in or be out: continuous processing of biopharmaceutical proteins
FREE webinar with live Q&A session
Wednesday 30 March 2016
Presented by
Günter Jagschies
Senior Director Strategic Customer Relations
GE Healthcare
Günter’s experience from the bioprocessing industry stretches over more than 30 years. He has held senior management positions at GE Healthcare in Sales, Marketing, and R&D. In 2012, he received the BioProcess International Award as “Thought Leader of the Decade”, for Downstream Processing.
Continuous processing from cell culture through to drug substance offers numerous advantages compared with a process based on batch unit operations. Floor space requirements in classified areas can be significantly reduced; the cost load in equipment is much lower as many unit operations can be down-sized; and the product quality can be improved when a process is run in steady-state. Furthermore, continuous processing can enable production of proteins that are unstable, toxic, or difficult to express. On the downside, the risk profile of a long running time with extended requirements for cell line and equipment stability, potential contamination or other reasons for failure can be considered higher. Finally, the cost of goods sold for batch processes in today’s biomanufacturing environment is decreasing to low double digit USD levels per gram. How does this fact affect the case for continuous processing?
Join us for this one hour webinar and learn about:
- The next-generation biomanufacturing facilities.
- Insight into current state of continuous processing and predictions for the future.
- Pros and cons for continuous processing.
- Innovations such as periodic counter-current chromatography, which drive the adoption of continuous downstream processing.
There will be a live Q&A session at the end of the webinar.
Register today
Choose from one of three available time slots:
Workshops:
Field Potential Recordings for Stem Cell Characterization: an Alternative to Patch Clamping for Synaptic Network Activity and Cardiac Beat Function
Wednesday, March 16
Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF
Across the world over, Maestro multiwell Microelectrode Array technology is replacing patch clamping for iPS neuron and cardiomyocyte characterization. Researchers are now empowered to do their own electrophysiology with a plate reader.
You will learn:
-how iPS stem cell characterization benefits from non-invasive e-phys
-how different disease electrical phenotypes manifest in vitro (aka “disease-in-a-dish”)
-how different compounds may be assessed quickly for seizurogenic or arrhythmogenic liabilities
-why network electrophysiology is more cell-friendly than standard patch clamping
Hosted by Axion BioSystems
To Register – http://www.axionbiosystems.com/mission-bay-workshop/
Conferences:
March
BPI West – March 14-March 17, 2016 – Oakland Marriott City Center, Oakland, CA
http://www.ibclifesciences.com/BDPWeek/overview.xml
If you are going to BPI West, don’t miss our blog, “Going to BPI West? Don’t miss these great talks and activities!“
World Vaccine Congress – March 29-30, 2016 –Grand Hyatt– Washington D.C.
http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/world-vaccine-congress-washington/index.stm
April
Cell Line Development and Engineering –April 11-13 2016, Vienna, Austria
http://www.informa-ls.com/event/CellLine16
Bioprocess International European Summit – April 11-14, 2016 – Vienna, Austria
http://www.informa-ls.com/event/BPI2016
PEGS Boston – April 25-29, 2016 – Seaport World Trade Center – Boston, MA
Interphex – April 26-28, 2016 Javits Center, New York City
May
TIDES – May 9-12, 2016 – Long Beach, CA
http://www.ibclifesciences.com/TIDES/overview.xml
World Stem Cells Regenerative Medicine Conference – May 18-20, 2016 – London, UK http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/stem-cells/index.stm
World Cord Blood Conference – May 18-19, 2016 – London, UK
http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/world-cord-blood-congress-europe/index.stm
World Precision Medicine – May 18-19, 2016 – London, UK
http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/world-precision-medicine-congress/index.stm
ISCT – May 25-28, 2016 – Singapore
http://www.celltherapysociety.org/?page=ISCT2016
Cell Culture World Congress USA – May 19-20, 2016 – Hilton San Diego Resort and Spa – San Diego, CA
http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/cell-culture-world-congress-usa/index.stm
June
BIO International Convention – June 6-9, 2016 – San Francisco, CA
Cell Line Development & Engineering – June 13-15, 2016 – Parc 55 Wyndham San Francisco, CA
http://www.ibclifesciences.com/CellLine/overview.xml
Co-located with
Bioconjugates: From Targets to Therapeutics – http://www.ibclifesciences.com/Bioconjugates/overview.xml
Next Generation Protein Therapeutics Summit – http://www.ibclifesciences.com/ProteinSummit/overview.xml
Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research – June 22-25, 2016, San Francisco, CA
http://www.isscr.org/home/annual-meeting/san-francisco-2016
Progress in Continuous Biomanufacturing – June 27-28, 2016 – Robinson College, Cambridge, UK
The conference is enhanced by the participation of several leading industrial technologists, scientific, vendors and also leading academics from Europe and USA. They have come forward to share their experience and knowledge to provide a better understanding of the current technologies and their application in continuous biomanufacturing. There is also a plenary lecture by a distinguished professor in the field of bioprocessing, and you will also benefit from access to unpublished data. This meeting will address several advancements and their successful application with data in the Technology both Upstream and downstream and also on Initiatives to process developments and project to the future direction of the industry. By joining with us you can benefit from the current state of-the-art advancements in continuous manufacturing and also learn about the successful organisations that are developing and applying these methods in-house.
http://www.subramanian.org.uk/
Viral Safety and Raw Materials – June 2016, Vienna, Austria
http://www.informa-ls.com/event/empoweredantibodies15
Headlines
“Groups Scrutinize White House Plan to Cut Drug Costs in Medicare,” The New York Times
“The Obama administration touched off a tempest on Wednesday with its plan to test new ways of paying for prescription drugs under Medicare, widely seen as the administration’s first serious attempt to rein in drug spending.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cool Tool – Mitigating Risk beyond Xeno-Free: Virus Stabilization during Culture and Final Formulation”
“XBiotech ready to file its true ‘human’ monoclonal antibody,” PharmaTimes
“European regulators have agreed to review an investigational treatment for advanced colorectal cancer being developed by XBiotech, which said it now expects to submit a marketing authorisation application shortly.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Pancreatic Progenitor Cells – High Efficiency Differentiation and Generation”
“AbbVie to Pay $595 Million for Boehringer Immunology Treatments,” Bloomberg Business
“AbbVie Inc. will pay Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH at least $595 million to join in developing two drugs aimed at treating psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, asthma and other diseases where the immune system goes awry.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “3D Bioprinting and 4D Bioprinting – Applications and Technologies”
“Immusoft Acquires Discovery Genomics,” Genetic Engineering News
“Immusoft has acquired Discovery Genomics for an undisclosed price in a deal that expands the buyer’s technology holdings. With the acquisition, Immusoft has added to its portfolio Discovery Genomics’ Sleeping Beauty Transposon™ System, designed to deliver genes into cells using DNA rather than a virus.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “2015 FDA New Drug Approvals – 13 Biologics Receive Approval”
“Teva set to win EU okay for $40.5 bln Allergan deal –sources,” Reuters
“Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is expected to win EU antitrust approval for its $40.5 billion bid for Allergan’s generics unit after agreeing to sell off some of its products to appease regulators, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cool Tool – New Robust Kit for Efficient Generation of Functional Pancreatic Progenitor Cells”
“Cempra gets another $25M to develop pediatric pneumonia treatment,” Triangle Business Journal
“Chapel Hill drug developer Cempra, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEMP) will draw down more than $25 million of federal funding to further test its experimental pneumonia treatment.
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Hollow Fiber Provides a Sweet Spot for Several Biomanufacturing Applications”
“Karolinska: Nanoparticle tech opens up new drug, vaccine targets,” Fierce Biotech Research
“A new nanotech approach has been used to stabilize membrane proteins, an advance the investigators at the Karolinska Institute say should open up a new frontier for drug developers.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Enabling High Density Cell Banking using a Single-Use, Closed-System”