Life Science News

WACKER, the Munich-based chemical company, intends to strengthen its future focus on biotechnology and is therefore repositioning its existing biotech and fine-chemical segment. Effective immediately, the division previously known as WACKER FINE CHEMICALS will operate under the “WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS” name and primarily concentrate on the food, pharmaceutical and agrochemical sectors. [more...]

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MorphoSys AG announced that its research and diagnostic antibody unit AbD Serotec has demonstrated significant progress using the HuCAL-based technology platform to generate custom-made monoclonal antibodies for research and diagnostic use. Over the course of the last four years, AbD Serotec gradually improved success rates year-on-year starting at 80% in 2006 to reach 98% in 2009. [more...]

In January 2010, only nine months after having set up the collaboration, rapid progress has been made in discovering and characterizing distinct chemical entities towards a novel therapeutic target for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which lies in Axikin's research area of respiratory disorders. [more...]

The biotech company MediGene AG has signed a license and supply agreement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. for the supply and commercialization of Veregen™ in Israel. Teva will also be responsible for registering the product in Israel, and upon successful completion of the regulatory procedures, MediGene is entitled to a milestone payment. [more...]

MorphoSys AG and Galapagos NV announce that they have expanded their antibody alliance in bone and joint diseases. Based on the solid progress made so far, the partners have agreed to add another antibody target to the alliance, thereby increasing the total number of programs to four. [more...]

4SC AG, a drug discovery and development company focused on autoimmune and cancer indications, announced the first treatment in a Phase I study evaluating 4SC-205, an oral Eg5 kinesin spindle protein inhibitor, in patients with solid tumours or malignant lymphomas. [more...]

MorphoSys AG announced that Shionogi & Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has elected to expand its current research license to cover the use of MorphoSys's HuCAL PLATINUM technology in drug discovery. [more...]

Two Bavarian applications win in the "Spitzencluster" competition of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research: the application "m4 - a new dimension in drug development" of the Munich Biotech Cluster covering personalised medicine and the application "Excellence Center for Medical Engineering" of the Medical Valley European Metropol Region Nuremberg are among the five winners of the competition. [more...]

Agennix AG announced that the next stage of the FORTIS-M trial has begun, with the first patient being dosed in Europe. FORTIS-M is a Phase 3 registration trial evaluating oral talactoferrin versus placebo in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients whose disease has progressed following two or more prior therapies.  [more...]

4SC AG, a drug discovery and development company, announced the start of dosing in a First-in- Man Phase I study in healthy volunteers evaluating 4SC-203, a novel multi-target kinase inhibitor, with particular specificity against selected kinases, including FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3), FLT3 mutants and vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGF-R). [more...]

MorphoSys AG and Wacker Chemie AG announced an expansion of their existing cooperation in the use of WACKER's bacterial secretion technology ESETEC®. As a result, MorphoSys will now be able to use the WACKER technology for the production of antigen material in addition to the production of antibodies in both the early development phase of therapeutic projects as well as in the production of diagnostic and research antibodies. [more...]

MorphoSys AG announced that it has enrolled the first patient in its Phase 1b/2a clinical trial of its lead drug MOR103. The Company's lead development program, MOR103, is a fully human HuCAL antibody directed against GM-CSF (granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor), being developed in the area of inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), where current treatment options are inadequate.  [more...]

Boehringer Ingelheim and Priaxon entered into a worldwide collaboration to research and develop mdm2/p53 inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. Priaxon is providing its innovative and proprietary small molecule drug discovery expertise which is particularly suited to investigate inhibition of protein-protein interactions. [more...]

KINAXO Biotechnologies GmbH announced that it has entered into a second collaboration with Roche Diagnostics GmbH in Penzberg, Germany. Under the agreement KINAXO will apply its phosphoproteomics technology PhosphoScout® to support targeted treatment approaches currently under development at Roche. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. [more...]

4SC AG, a drug discovery and development company focused on autoimmune and cancer indications,'announced the treatment of the first patient in a Phase II study evaluating resminostat (4SC-201), an oral pan-histone-deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL) patients. [more...]