NEWS


Cobra Biologics expands through Unitech acquisition


Biopharmaceutical manufacturer Cobra Biologics is to acquire Unitech Pharma Group and its bio-production facility in Matfors near Sundsvall, Sweden as part of the company’s strategy to expand its service offering. Cobra Biologics will acquire 100 per cent of the shareholding in Unitech Pharma Group, which has a clinical and commercial microbial GMP production capacity of 600 litres plus commercial aseptic fill/finish and lyophilisation capabilities. Cobra’s service offering now includes cell line development, analytical and process development, GMP production, fill/finish, product release for Phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials, and commerical supply.


Genable Technologies completes €5 million Series B financing


Irish company Genable Technologies has completed a new financing round for €5 million led by new investors Fountain Healthcare Partners alongside existing investors Delta Partners. The funding will support ongoing development of Genable’s suppression/ replacement gene therapy technology and specifically progress Genable’s lead product GT038 for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) forward into clinical evaluation in man. Patients with rhodopsin-linked retinitis pigmentosa have a mutation in the rhodopsin gene, which causes a patient’s sight to worsen over time, eventually leading to blindness. There are currently no available therapies for the condition. GT038 utilises AAV vectors to obtain expression of RNA interference molecules, which suppress the expression of the faulty gene, and replaces this with a gene encoding a functioning protein. This combination has the potential to cure the disease and not just treat the symptoms.


6 sp2 November/December 2011 Novartis and collaborative partners discover new antimalarial compounds


Novartis and its collaborative partners have announced the discovery of a new class of dual- acting antimalarial compounds, imidazolopiperazines (IZPs). The companies have published their findings reporting new


compounds that target both liver and blood infections, attacking the Plasmodium parasite at both stages in its reproduction cycle. The scientists developed a novel assay to determine liver- stage activity of candidate small molecules, and used the assay


and other tools to identify and optimise a chemical scaffold with activity on both blood- and liver- stage parasites in malaria mouse models. Several other compound classes, also with dual activity, have been described and released by Novartis through ChEMBL - Neglected Tropical Disease. Researchers from the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), through the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) and the Novartis Institute for Tropical


Diseases (NITD), collaborated on the project with the Scripps Research Institute and Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. The research was supported by The Wellcome Trust, Singapore Economic Development Board, and Medicines for Malaria Venture. This is the second new class of antimalarials discovered by the group in the past two years and holds promise as a


next-generation treatment for malaria if confirmed.


Ablynx and Merck Serono expand osteoarthritis partnership


Ablynx and Merck Serono have further expanded their partnership and entered into a third agreement to co-discover and co-develop Nanobodies against two targets in


osteoarthritis. The companies will exploit the features of Nanobody to develop multi-specific products with extended half-lives. Under the terms of the


agreement, Ablynx will receive an upfront payment of €20 million payable in two tranches over the next three months and will be


Affymetrix, Inc has entered into an exclusive agreement with Genisphere, LLC to offer Genisphere’s proprietary FlashTag™ Biotin HSR Reagents. The miRNA reagents provide high-fidelity target preparation methods yielding high-quality data and high reproducibility when used with the Affymetrix GeneChip Arrays.


fully responsible for all activities and costs for each programme, excluding manufacturing costs and costs relating to certain in vivo models, up to the delivery of the preclinical package that will form the basis of an IND or IND equivalent filing. Ablynx is entitled to receive a further €15 million for each programme if the preclinical packages are accepted by Merck Serono. At that point, Ablynx will have the option to continue with Merck Serono on a 50:50 co-development basis and share


Genisphere reagents are compatible across a wide variety of sample types including formalin-fixed, paraffin- embedded (FFPE) fresh frozen samples and blood. The complete solution is designed to provide researchers with faster insight into the role of miRNAs in biological processes including mRNA degradation,


the resulting profits, or to convert this collaboration into an exclusive, worldwide licensing deal with milestone payments and tiered royalties.


In September 2008, the two companies entered into an agreement to co-discover and co-develop Nanobodies against two disease targets in oncology and immunology. In October 2010, they entered into a second agreement to co-discover and co-develop Nanobodies against an inflammatory disease target.


Affymetrix and Genisphere in proprietary microRNA reagents licence agreement


transcriptional gene silencing, translational repression and, ultimately, in biomarker discovery in translational and cancer research.Affymetrix-branded reagent kits will be launched in early 2012. In the meantime FlashTag™ Biotin HSR Reagents are available from Genisphere and GeneChip® miRNA Arrays are available from Affymetrix.


Registration open for DynamicOutsourcing for Life Sciences


Attendee registration is now open on the avakado Media website www.avakado.eu for the Dynamic Outsourcing for Life Sciences (DOLS) event being held at Chilford Hall Conference Centre, Cambridge, UK from April 17-18, 2012. Attendees will benefit from keynote addresses on the state of the industry; parallel discussion sessions;


presentation sessions from CROs and CMOs; and a tabletop exhibition for companies offering R&D and manufacturing technologies and services. Contact us to find out more about attending the parallel discussion sessions or to be considered as a session chairman, or for CRO and CMO presentations send us a title and


synopsis of your proposed 30-minute presentation. Contact Tom Mulligan at: Email: tom@avakado.eu Tel: +44 (0)1403 220755. To book your low-cost tabletop exhibition stand contact Mark Harrington at: Email: mark@avakado.eu, Tel: +44 (0)1403 220753 See also www.avakado.eu


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44