The Dish’s Weekly Biotechnology News Wrap Up – August 28, 2015

August 28, 2015 Written by Brandy Sargent

This week’s biotechnology news headlines include, China’s economy could affect Pharma, Novartis buys rights to experimental MS drug, Medivation buys rights to BioMarin’s cancer drug, challenge of finding subjects for rare disease drug trials, Sucampo acquires R-Tech Ueno, NICE green light for Takeda’s Entyvio, and Pfizer’s Men B vaccine effective in Ph III trials.

Cell Culture Events

Workshops:

 

High Performance Tour 2015

Discover how to improve efficiency and productivity for your bioprocessing workflows during our exclusive High Performance Tour.

Learn how the choice of chromatography media (resins), hardware, and services can dramatically affect your process performance.

Register now to reserve your seat at this special event where you can gain insights in improved process efficiency and productivity.

Coming to these Cities:

  • San Diego, CA – September 15, 2015
  • San Francisco, CA – September 17, 2015

To Register – https://promo.gelifesciences.com/na/K15104/landing.html

Webinars:

Less False Negatives: Quantifying Cell Viability by Simultaneous Triple Staining

Sep 15 2015 | 7:00 AM  PT

Cellular viability is usually determined by measuring the capacity of cells to exclude vital dyes such as 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), or by assessing nuclear morphology with chromatinophilic plasma membrane-permeant dyes, such as Hoechst 33342. However, a fraction of cells that exclude DAPI or exhibit normal nuclear morphology have already lost mitochondrial functions and/or manifest massive activation of apoptotic caspases, and hence are irremediably committed to death. Here, we developed a protocol for the simultaneous detection of plasma membrane integrity (based on DAPI) or nuclear morphology (based on Hoechst 33342), mitochondrial functions (based on the mitochondrial transmembrane potential probe DiOC6(3)) and caspase activation (based on YO-PRO®-3, which can enter cells exclusively upon the caspase-mediated activation of pannexin 1 channels). This method, which allows for the precise quantification of dead, dying and healthy cells, can be implemented on epifluorescence microscopy or flow cytometry platforms and is compatible with a robotized, high-throughput workflow.

Register here – https://www.labroots.com/ms/webinar/id/117/beckman-kepp-sauvat-sep15

Conferences:

September

October

  • Bioproduction – October 14-15, 2015 – Dublin, Ireland – http://www.informa-ls.com/event/bio-production14Benchmark technological developments and explore best practices in biomanufacturingThe biopharmaceutical industry is making a capital investment of approximately $8 billion in new facilities in Ireland, most of which has come in the last 10 years, representing close to the biggest wave of investment in new biotech facilities anywhere in the world.Join us at BioProduction 2015 in Dublin this October to see why so much is being invested in this area and to network with leading players within this growing industry!BioProduction 2015: Europe’s leading and largest event for a comprehensive update on all aspects of large scale biological manufacturing. Providing insights on the latest technologies, upstream/downstream processing, process analytics, the implementation of continuous manufacturing, facility design, flexibility facilities and single use systems to reduce inefficiencies during the biomanufacturing process.4 Conferences – 1 Exhibition – 1 Congress
    • Conference 1: Continuous Manufacturing
    • Conference 2: Upstream Processing – Production, Development & Analytics
    • Conference 3: Manufacturing Strategy & Technology
    • Conference 4: Downstream Processing

    For more information on the 2015 event please visit the event website at http://www.informa-ls.com/CQ3531BioproductionCellEL

  • Bioprocessing International – October 26-29, 2015 Hynes Convention Center Boston, MA http://www.ibclifesciences.com/BPI/overview.xml

November

  • Bioproduction Summit 2015 – November 2-3, 2015 – Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront – Burlingame, CA Bioproduction Summit 2015 will focus on quintessential topics in Biotech field, such as technology advances in protein production, Cell culture, Bioprocess Development and Novel protein therapeutics. http://www.bioproductionsummit.com
  • World Vaccine Congress – November 3-5, 2015 – Sheraton Brussels Airport Hotel – Brussels, Belgium –  For 15 years the World Vaccine Congress in Europe has been the leading event to talk about scientific advances and find new business opportunities within the vaccine sector and this year is no exception. http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/world-vaccine-congress-europe/index.stm
  • FAST: Functional Analysis & Screening Technologies Congress – November 9-11, 2015 – Renaissance Waterfront Hotel – Boston, MA -Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is pleased to announce the Third Annual FAST: Functional Analysis and Screening Technologies Congress. Now in its third year, the FAST Congress brings you the latest technologies and research in cellular screening. – http://www.fastcongress.com/

Headlines

“China Worries Could Hurt Pharma’s Health,” The Wall Street Journal

“The big worries on growth hanging over the pharmaceuticals industry are poles apart. Pressure on U.S. drug pricing is casting a shadow over the sector’s most lucrative market. But slowing emerging-market growth, notably in China, shouldn’t be ignored.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “New Report Forecasts Sustained Growth in the Pharmaceutical Market through 2020”

“Novartis Buys Rights to Experimental MS Drug for $1 Billion,” Bloomberg Business

“Novartis AG agreed to buy the rights to an experimental multiple sclerosis drug from GlaxoSmithKline Plc for as much as $1 billion as it races to catch up with a competing treatment being developed by Roche Holding AG.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cancer Drug Market Continues to Grow and is Fueled by Significant R&D Focus and Clinical Pipeline”

“Medivation paying more than $400 million for rights to BioMarin’s potential cancer drug,” Fox Business

“Medivation Inc. is buying worldwide rights to BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.’s potential cancer treatment talazoparib for more than $400 million.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “The Evolution of Vaccine Manufacturing – Past, Current, and Future Trends”

“For a Rare Disease, Drug Trials Scramble for Patients,” The Wall Street Journal

“After years of effort, scientists and families of young patients with the genetic condition Niemann-Pick Type C are in a position to which any rare-disease community aspires: the prospect of not one, not two, but three companies launching clinical trials to develop therapies.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Culturing hPSCs: From MEFs to Naïve State Cells”

“Sucampo Pharma to Make Tender Offer For Japan’s R-Tech Ueno,” Bloomberg Business

“Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to acquire Japan’s R-Tech Ueno Ltd. in a deal valued at about 33 billion yen ($276 million), buying a company controlled by Sucampo’s founders that manufactures all of its drugs.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cord Blood-derived HSCs – The Quest to Overcome Limited Cell Numbers”

“Final NICE green light for Takeda’s Entyvio,” Pharma Times

“Crohn’s disease patients can now get routine access to treatment with Takeda’s biologic Entyvio on the National Health Service in England and Wales after a full green light from cost regulators.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cell Culture Media Optimization: Making the perfect magical potion”

“Pfizer’s Trumenba shows ‘robust’ MenB protection in two PhIII trials,” Fierce Vaccines

“Pfizer’s meningitis B vaccine Trumenba won the FDA’s blessing nearly a year ago based on impressive midstage results and a national unease about the infection spreading on college campuses. Now, just in time for the back to school season, the New York-based pharma on Friday announced positive late-stage results in nearly 7,000 individuals that confirmed the vaccine’s effectiveness against certain meningitis B strains.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “3D Printing and 3D Bioprinting – Changing the Healthcare Landscape”

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