In a major advance for personalised medicine, the UK Human Tissue Authority has authorised a new stem cell banking service that will extract adult stem cells from human blood samples and store them for up to 20 years for use against future disease.
Circulating tumour cells appear to have potential as a biomarker for clinical trials involving patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Data from a study of the potential biomarker was presented at the annual meeting of ASCO in Chicago.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in the US have reported that a tumour suppressor protein called PTEN does not reduce the effectiveness of Herceptin (trastuzumab) and therefore should not be used as a biomarker to predict resistance to the drug.
The European Medicines Agency and national regulators in the European Union member states are proposing to relax procedures regarding the protection of pharmaceutical data in order to put more information into the public domain.
Silence Therapeutics Plc has outlined plans for the early clinical development of its two lead cancer products following the successful completion of a share offering that raised £5.5 million, net of expenses, from existing and new shareholders.
Roche and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company have announced plans to investigate a combination of vemurafenib and ipilimumab in patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma. The two agents target the disease in different ways.
A spin-out of NV Philips Electronics that is developing brain stimulation technology has raised €13 million in a Series A financing round from Wellington Partners, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and Life Sciences Partners.
Evotec AG is paying €10.25 million in cash upfront to acquire the US compound management business of Galápagos NV in a move that will substantially increase its ability to help third parties develop and manage their compound libraries.
TiGenix NV of Belgium has raised €15.2 million in a rights issue, putting the finishing touches on a merger with Cellerix SA of Spain to create a new, larger company focused on cell-based therapeutics. The issue was fully subscribed.
Shield Therapeutics, a Switzerland-based speciality pharmaceutical company, has raised €8.2 million in a Series A financing round from Inventages Venture Capital in order to help fund the late-stage development of a product for anaemia.