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Other News To Note(BioWorld Today Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) , of Boston, a pre-seed investment company, and the Harvard University Office of Technology Development and Northeastern University have created CryoXtract Instruments LLC, a new spinout focused on the extraction of aliquots from frozen biological samples. The technology was developed to extract small quantities (aliquots) from vials of frozen biospecimens without exposing the samples to freeze-thaw cycles that can damage the biological integrity of the samples. ? Arysta LifeScience Corp., of Tokyo, said it has completed the acquisition of Callietha Investments, the parent company of the Durban, South Africa-based Volcano Cos. As a result, Arysta now holds sole ownership of Volcano, which includes Volcano Agroscience (Pty) Ltd., Volcano Granulation and Volcano Chemicals. Arysta acquired the remaining 50 percent interest in Callietha after purchasing the initial 50 percent interest in Callietha in 2005. Financial terms were not disclosed. ? Biom?thodes, of Evry, France, has signed an exclusive and worldwide option-to-license agreement with Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc. for multiple technologies for converting biomass to bioethanol and biohydrogen. An integrated biorefinery pilot plant in Virginia is envisioned to advance the process for the conversion of biomass into ethanol and valuable co-products, focusing especially on biomass pretreatment. The process for transformation of biomass into hydrogen will be developed in France and will be validated through a biohydrogen fuel cell prototype and small-scale model car. Financial terms were not disclosed. ? Bioniche Pharma, of Lake Forest, Ill., has acquired the Enlon product line from Baxter Healthcare Corp., of Deerfield, Ill., including Enlon, (edrophonium chloride injection, USP) 10 mg/mL, 15 mL vial; Enlon-Plus (edrophonium chloride, USP and atropine sulfate, USP) Injection 5 mL ampule; and Enlon-Plus (edrophonium chloride, USP and atropine sulfate, USP) Injection, 15 mL Multidose Vial. Enlon is recommended for the differential diagnosis of myasthenia gravis and also may be used for evaluating emergency treatment in myasthenic crises. Financial terms were not disclosed, but 2007 sales of Enlon and Enlon-Plus totaled $2,727,000. Baxter had discontinued the line in February, and Bioniche said it will relaunch them in October. ? Direvo Biotech AG, of Cologne, Germany, and Genencor Division, of Copenhagen, Denmark-based Danisco AS signed a second collaboration agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Danisco will obtain worldwide exclusive rights to commercialize the product or products developed under the collaboration. In return, Direvo will receive research and development funding, milestone payments and royalties on future product sales. ? Ipsen, of Paris, completed its purchase of Apokyn, a treatment for Parkinson's disease, from Vernalis plc, of Winnersh, UK, and Vernalis' U.S. commercial operations. The $17.5 million buyout was announced last month. (See BioWorld Today, June 6, 2008.) ? Medistem Laboratories Inc., of Chandler, Ariz., is collaborating with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Kansas City Veterans Administration to characterize the epigenetic profile of endometrial regenerative cells, Medistem's stem cells are derived from menstrual blood. ? Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, said that the European Commission has approved an update of the summary of product characteristics (SPC) for Raptiva (efalizumab) in the treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis. The SPC has been amended to include efficacy and safety data on up to three years of continuous treatment with Raptiva. The clinical efficacy section of the SPC now includes a new sub-heading on long-term treatment, stating that approximately 50 percent of the responding patients treated for more than one year showed a 75 percent improvement. No increase in the incidence of serious infections over time was observed. There also was no evidence of increased risk of any particular malignancy over time with the exception of nonmelanoma skin cancer. ? Microfluidic Systems Inc., of Fremont, Calif., said that it has been awarded the Phase 3X agreement for the production of Microfluidic - Bioagent Autonomous Networked Detector (M-BAND). The award is the fourth in a series of funded phases by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate since 2003. The continued funding through March 2009 will allow for low-volume production of automated systems for extended field trials in key locations around the U.S. Included in the continued funding is an option to purchase, deploy and support additional instruments for the field during the period from April 2009 through September 2009. Those new systems to be deployed are intended to improve the detection of biological pathogens that could contaminate the population in a city or large metropolitan area. ? MicroIslet Inc., of San Diego, reported recent safety and efficacy data for its lead product, MicroIslet-P, which consists of microencapsulated porcine islets for implantation into the abdominal cavity using a minimally invasive procedure. To date, MicroIslet has tested hundreds of rodents and currently is completing a trial with 19 nonhuman primates and has seen no adverse events attributable to MicroIslet-P. MicroIslet also has efficacy data demonstrating that MicroIslet-P can produce normoglycemia in both immune-comprised and immune-competent rodents. Additionally, all primates tested to date, post-implant, have demonstrated decreases in insulin requirements needed to maintain their blood glucose levels at a healthy concentration. ? PURE Bioscience, of San Diego, and Philadelphia-based FTA Therapeutics LLC have entered into an agreement to develop and license additional silver dihydrogen citrate-based products for human use. FTA will formulate and begin clinical projects for FDA-regulated dermatology, wound care and medical biofilm control products containing PURE's SDC. ? RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Bethesda, Md., received a second $100,000 award from the State of Maryland Industrial Partnerships program after completion of the first year's research goals. The company is working with the University of Maryland, Baltimore to develop a novel pharmaceutical products aimed at preventing reperfusion injury associated with cardiac ischemia. RegeneRx is contributing approximately $54,000 and retains the right to exclusively license all intellectual property developed under the project. ? Schering-Plough Corp., of Kenilworth, N.J., closed its transaction with Virbac SA, of Milperra, Australia, to divest animal health products from selected franchises. The divestments were requested by the European Commission as part of its October 2007 clearance of the acquisition of Organon BioSciences NV, of Oss, the Netherlands. In Europe, Virbac acquired products from the endocrine, mastitis and sulphonamide franchises of Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health. The agreement does not affect the marketing of those products in other global markets. ? ? Copyright ? 2008 Thomson BioWorld, All Rights Reserved. |