“Cells: Biotech’s Problematic Production Line,” Technology Review MIT

The biological therapeutics sold by Amgen and other companies are produced by bacteria or cultured mammalian cells. Even though researchers and companies have been manufacturing drugs in this manner for decades, there is still a lot to be learned about the biology of a cell

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

“U.S. May Speed Approval of “Breakthrough” Drugs,” Reuters

Experimental drugs that show a big effect early in development for treating serious or life-threatening diseases would get a faster and cheaper path to U.S. approval, under a proposal likely to become law this year.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “CHO Cells the Top Expression System of Best Selling Biologic Drugs”

“Orphan Drugs to See Growth Through 2018, Report Finds,” Drug Store News

Drug makers could strike big with new treatments for rare diseases, according to a new report by a market research firm.

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

“Researchers Rejuvenate Blood-Forming Stem Cells in Mice,” US News and World Report Health Day

Researchers who found a way to rejuvenate aged blood-forming cells in mice say their achievement offers clues about how it may be possible to combat health problems associated with old age.  The study by scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Ulm University Medicine in Germany appeared online May 3 in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Culture and Expansion of Stem Cells in Stirred Suspension Bioreactors Could Provide Key in Large Scale Manufacturing”

“Gene Therapy Safe in Decade-Long HIV Study That May Widen Use,” Bloomberg

HIV patients given Gene Therapy more than a decade ago are healthy and the altered DNA they received remains stable in their bodies, according to a study that scientists say proves the treatment may safely be tested as a way to attack other illnesses.

If you like this story, please see our stem cell blog titled “Fetal Stem Cells Could be Most Effecitve in Heart Treatment”

“Pluristem Stem Cell Therapy Saves a Patient, Shares Jump,” Reuters

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc said a 7-year old girl suffering from a bone marrow disease experienced a reversal of her condition after receiving its experimental stem Cell Therapy, sending the Israeli company’s shares up 32 percent.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Exciting Treatment Possibilities With Stem Cells What is the Best Cell Culture Method”

“Clinical Trial Update: Stem Cell Study for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease),” Sacramento Bee

Three patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis will be permitted to receive a second dose of stem cells delivered directly to the spinal cord, in a clinical trial being led by the University of Michigan’s Eva Feldman, M.D.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Neonatal Stem Cells for Research and Clinical Applications”