“Biotech All Stars Buy Castoff Experimental Cancer Drug,” Forbes

Tesaro of Waltham, Mass., a tiny biotech now preparing for its initial public offering, just licensed a promising anti-cancer drug from Merck. The startup is attempting to repeat the success its top executives had turning Big Pharma’s castoffs into hits at MGI Pharma, which was bought by Eisai for $3.9 billion in 2008.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “How Single Use Systems are Improving Bioprocess Development”

”Stem Cells Used to Repair Damaged Eyes in World’s First Trial,” Fox News

A medical breakthrough by Australian scientists has shown how sheets of stem cells grown on contact lenses can repair damaged eyes.  The treatment transfers minuscule strips of adult stem cells from specifically designed contact lenses onto the eye, to help rebuild the surface of the cornea.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “New Stem Cell Therapy May Prevent the Need for Hip Replacement Surgery”

“Roche’s Breast Cancer Drug Gets FDA Nod,” Reuters

U.S. health regulators have approved a new breast cancer drug from Roche Holding AG that the company hopes will become the standard treatment for women with an aggressive, incurable form of cancer.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Strategies for Enhancing Media to Improve Antibody Production in CHO Cells”

“VaxInnate Begins H5N1 Avian Flu Phase I Clinical Trial,” Vaccine News Daily

VaxInnate, a Cranbury, New Jersey-based biotechnology company, announced on Tuesday that enrollment has commenced for its phase I clinical trial to evaluate an H5N1 vaccine candidate for pandemic avian flu.  The clinical trial to evaluate VAX161, a novel H5 vaccine candidate for preventing bird flu, is being conducted under the company’s contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. The study will evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of two doses of VAX161 given by intramuscular injection three weeks apart at six dose levels. Results from the study are anticipated later this year.

If you like this story, please see our stem cell blog titled “Improving Media to Increase Virus Yield in Vaccine Production”

“A Cold Virus Could Act Like a Vaccine in Cancer Treatment,” Fierce Vaccines

The reovirus, a cold virus, has potential as a therapeutic cancer vaccine, as well as having anticancer activity in its own right. The University of Leeds (U.K.) and the Institute of Cancer Research are carrying out clinical trials of the virus as cancer therapy, and have found that it can hide from the immune system (which would otherwise neutralize it as a foreign antigen) and also can “home in” on cancer cells, allowing it to treat hidden tumors and tumors deep in the body

If you like this story, please see our stem cell blog titled “Manufacturing Strategies for Improving Viral Yield and Lowering Production Cost”

“Transplanting Stem Cells Works for Scleroderma,” MedPage Today

Autologous blood stem cell transplants significantly improved survival in patients with high-risk scleroderma, despite significant treatment-related mortality, a randomized trial showed.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Alternatives to Fetal Bovine Serum in Cell Culture Media – Challenges and Perspectives”