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Boehringer Ingelheim of Ingelheim, Germany, earned top honors in a ranking of the world’s most respected biopharmaceutical employers, according to a survey from Science. Genentech of South San Francisco, California, which gained top place in the first five surveys, came in a close second, with Amgen of Thousand Oaks, California, completing the top three. The rankings, determined from a study conducted by an independent research firm commissioned by the journal, appear in a special business supplement. Survey responses were analyzed by Senn-Delaney Culture Diagnostics & Measurement, which used a mathematical process to assign a unique score to rate the companies’ employer reputation. Each company received a ranking, for example, on the basis of whether it treats its employees with respect, whether its work-culture values align with employees’ personal values, and other factors.

 

Anacor Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline said they have entered into a worldwide strategic alliance for the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel medicines for viral and bacterial diseases. The collaboration provides GSK access to Anacor's proprietary boron-based chemistry for use against selected targets. Under the terms of the agreement, Palo Alto, California-based Anacor will grant GSK options to select product candidates developed under the collaboration that are directed to up to four discovery targets, with the potential for at least eight additional product options. Anacor will primarily be responsible for the discovery and development of boron-containing small molecule drug candidates through clinical proof of concept, at which point GSK will have an exclusive option to license each compound for further development and commercialization on a worldwide basis. Anacor will receive a $12 million upfront payment and a $10 million equity financing commitment from GSK. Contingent on achieving certain milestones, Anacor is eligible to receive discovery, development, regulatory, and commercial milestones ranging up to $331 million for each product candidate.

 

An article in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry by scientists at San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals describes the development of LGD-2941, a nonsteroidal compound that shows promise as a new treatment for loss of muscle mass, bone tissue, and other problems linked to aging. The scientists point out that the potential side effects of testosterone used as a steroid medication limit its use to older men with low testosterone levels. Ligand’s nonsteroidal compound attaches to testosterone receptors in cells and triggers the same desired effects as actual testosterone in tests in laboratory animals. In comparison to other testosterone replacement treatments, the compound showed similar improvement in muscle mass and strength while having little effect on the prostate, the researchers said. It also significantly improved bone density and strength in rats. LGD-2941is licensed to TAP Pharmaceutical.

 

Emeryville, California-based BioTime said it named Michael West as its new CEO to help spearhead the company’s entry into the field of regenerative medicine. West, who had served as the chief scientific officers of Advanced Cell Therapy, will lead an effort by the company to develop human stem cell products and technology for diagnostic, therapeutic and research use. West has been a member of the BioTime board of directors since 2002. BioTime, which makes a blood plasma volume expander, said it will continue to seek new markets for that product and will seek $5 million in funding to finance its entry into the stem cell area.

 

The National Human Genome Research Institute said it awarded a $5-million grant to the University of California at Santa Cruz as part of a four-year project to build a "parts list" of biologically functional elements in the human genome. Under the grant, scientists at UCSC will establish a Data Coordination Center for the ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project. In its pilot phase, ENCODE yielded new insights into the organization and function of the human genome. That pilot phase focused on just 1 percent of the genome. Now, NHGRI is scaling up the ENCODE project to survey the entire genome, awarding more than $80 million in grants to support this next phase.

 

Rancho Cordova, California-based Telomolecular said its plans to build a 140,000 sq. ft. facility budgeted at $43 million in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. The multi-purpose center will house twenty biotechnology and research companies dedicated to pharmaceutical development and the study of therapies to address age-related disease and human aging. The facility will also be home to a regional workforce initiative designed to support laboratory technician education and professional training. 

 

Gilead Sciences said it has submitted applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the European Medicines Agency to expand the approved use of its HIV drug Viread to include the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in adults. Viread is already approved in the United States and European Union for the treatment of HIV as part of combination antiretroviral therapy. Chronic hepatitis B affects more than 400 million people worldwide. The complications of chronic hepatitis B, which include liver cancer and cirrhosis, kill up to 1.2 million people each year, making it one of the world’s top 10 causes of death. In the United States, an estimated 1.3 million people are currently living with chronic hepatitis B, of whom more than half are Asian American. In the European region, one million people are estimated to become infected with HBV each year and approximately 90,000 go on to develop chronic hepatitis B. While there is no cure for the disease, anti-HBV medications can have beneficial effects on chronic hepatitis B throughout the course of infection, potentially preventing fatal liver damage and liver cancer. In many cases, this requires prolonged treatment over the course of many months or years.

 

Palo Alto-based Horizon Therapeutics said it has initiated a late-stage follow-on safety study of its lead product candidate HZT-501, an investigational prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug designed to be "GI-friendly," or nice to the gastrointestinal tract. HZT-501 is a proprietary formulation of ibuprofen, the most prescribed NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) in the United States, combined with famotidine, the most potent H2 receptor antagonist, in a single pill. HZT-501 is specifically designed to provide pain relief while reducing stomach acidity during the peak time of risk for gastric ulceration. 

 

STEM CELLS: REPRESSOR PROTEIN BLOCKS NEURAL STEM CELL DEVELOPMENT
A protein known to repress gene transcription at the molecular level in a variety of processes also blocks embryonic neural stem cells from differentiating into neurons, according to a study by University of California, San Diego and Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers published online in Nature. The research team focused on a repressor protein called SMRT (silencing mediator of retinoic acid and thyroid hormone receptor), which has been shown to repress gene expression in a number of molecular pathways. By creating a strain of “knock-out” mice missing the SMRT gene, the team was able to pinpoint significant alterations in brain development in the absence of SMRT. The researchers said their findings demonstrate the important role of this protein in preventing premature differentiation of specific brain cells from undifferentiated neural stem cells in utero and provides scientists with one more important key to understanding how stem cells maintain their potential to grow into specific cells.

 

Tustin, California-based Peregrine Pharmaceuticals said the first patient has been dosed in a clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of bavituximab in patients co-infected with HIV and Hepatitis C, or HCV. In the United States alone, an estimated 300,000 individuals are co-infected with HCV and HIV, representing up to 30 percent of all HIV-infected patients. Co-infected patients have been shown to have a lower response to current HCV treatment regimens, and the adverse effects of these regimens can be especially problematic for some HIV patients. Bavituximab is a monoclonal antibody in a new class of anti-phosphotidylserine immunotherapeutics which targets and binds to cellular components that are normally not present on the outside of cells, but which become exposed on certain virally infected cells and on the surface of enveloped viruses, including both HCV and HIV.