News

Data showing that robust human pancreatic beta cells can be produced in vitro is being described as a breakthrough for modern science and specifically for the future treatment of Type 1 diabetes.

The Roche group reported sales of CHF 34.8 billion (€28.8 billion) for the first nine months of 2014, unchanged from a year earlier. At constant exchange rates sales increased by 5%. The main event of the period was its acquisition of InterMune Inc for $8.3 billion in the third quarter.

A project aimed at sequencing the genomes of patients in the UK with cancer and rare, genetic disorders has moved a step closer towards implementation with the selection of a group of potential commercial suppliers of gene analysis services.

 AbbVie Inc said that its directors have decided to recommend to its shareholders that its £32 billion bid for Shire Plc be rejected. Shire had no immediate comment.

Shire Plc said that it would prefer to go ahead with its pending £32 billion merger with AbbVie Inc but if the US company decides not to proceed, a break fee of more than one billion pounds would become payable to it.

A newly formed German company, Rigontec GmbH, has found backers for a novel cancer treatment that makes a tumour seem like a viral infection, thereby prompting an attack by the immune system. The treatment involves neither live viruses, nor viral genes, nor particles common in oncolytic viruses, and therefore does not raise safety concerns common to the use of viruses, according to the developers.

Nextech Invest Ltd said that it has raised $40 million in the first closing of its fourth oncology fund but that its target for the final closing remains at $100 million.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first combination pill to treat chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection. Harvoni (ledipasvir and sofosbuvir) is also the first treatment that doesn’t require co-administration with interferon or ribaviron.

In a major expansion of an existing gene-therapy deal, Oxford BioMedica Plc has reached an agreement with Novartis to supply it with greater quantities of lentiviral vector that can be used to gene

A new company which is investigating treatments for conditions ranging from cancer to reperfusion injury has been launched in the UK with £15.5 million in seed capital. The company, Magnus Life Science, is a collaboration with University College London (UCL).