CANCER: STEM CELL TECHNIQUE WILL MAKE IT EASIER TO KILL CELLS GONE AWRY
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have turned normal skin cells into cancer stem cells, a step they said will make these naturally rare cells easier to study. Cancer stem cells are thought to be the ones that drive a cancer, and are therefore the targets of any cancer therapy. Understanding these cells has been a challenge, however, because they are rare, difficult to isolate, and don’t grow well in the lab. The researchers said being able to generate cancer stem cells from normal cells will help move that research forward. The study, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, also demonstrated that cancer stem cells are much more similar to the stem cells found in embryos, which can develop to form all tissue types, than they are to the more-restricted adult stem cells. This finding, the researchers said, has important implications for understanding how cells go awry when they become cancerous.

 

PERSONALIZED MEDICINE: COMPANY TO PROPOSE STANDARDS FOR CONSUMER GEONOMIC SERVICES
Redwood Shores, California-based Navigenics said it will develop a set of industry standards for consumer genomic testing services, and it will seek broad, multi-stakeholder input and endorsement of these or similar criteria. The company also said it will support health outcomes studies, involving leading medical centers and other partners, designed to examine the impact that consumer access to personal genetic information has on behaviors and health outcomes. The company also announced the launch of its Navigenics Health Compass service. The service uses genotyping, coupled with the latest research findings on genetic associations with an initial set of 18 common medical conditions, to provide a personalized genetic assessment to its members. The assessment comes with 24/7 access to a genetic counselor to help understand results, and is designed to be part of an ongoing process to help individuals and their professional health advisers apply the information to improve health.

The California Long-Term Care Reimbursement Act of 2004 increased nursing home costs, but failed to improve quality or access to care, according to researchers at the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. Between 2004 and 2006, MediCal costs in California’s free-standing nursing homes increased by $590 million, or nearly 9 percent, to a total of $6.6 billion in 2006, according to the study, but during the same time period, nursing home staffing levels remained significantly lower than the recommended numbers and staff turnover actually increased. Though the legislation was designed to address problems in the quality of nursing home care in California, the researchers said it has so far failed to meet that challenge. Implemented in 2004-05, the system effectively raised MediCal rates from $124 per day in 2004 to $152 per day in 2006, the study found. However, that rise did not result in improved access to nursing homes; the total number of patient days billed to MediCal actually decreased 2 percent between 2004 and 2005, while the overall proportion of MediCal days remained steady at 69 percent of the total patient-days of care statewide.

CANCER: CELERA GRANTS LICENSE TO MERCK FOR TARGETS
Alameda, California-based Celera said it entered into a two-year exclusive license agreement with Merck that provides the drug giant access to up to ten cancer targets for the development of RNA interference, or RNAi-based therapeutics. These therapeutic targets are over-expressed on the surface of several different tumor cell types and were identified using Celera's proteomics discovery platform. RNAi-based therapeutics selectively catalyze the destruction of the RNA transcribed from an individual gene, enabling a novel approach to discovering drugs with the potential to produce highly specific, potent, and long-lasting effects. Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will pay Celera a license fee for exclusive access to the ten targets, in addition to the payment of development and commercial milestones plus royalties on selected targets that it advances successfully. Merck also has the option to extend the exclusivity period or add additional targets. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Celera will be able to develop and commercialize related companion diagnostics, or theranostics, that are specific to certain therapeutic candidates arising from Merck’s program.

DIABETES: RIGEL DRUG SHOWS PRECLINICAL ACTIVITY IN TYPE 1 FORM OF DISEASE
South San Francisco, California-based Rigel Pharmaceuticals said its oral inhibitor of the enzyme Syk kinase may be a useful treatment for type 1 diabetes mellitus, according to research being presented at the American Association of Immunologists meeting in San Diego. Using Rigel's drug known as R788, researchers from the Department of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center have shown that blocking Syk kinase in a well-established mouse model of type 1 diabetes delayed the onset of diabetes and prolonged survival. A reduction in the production of insulin-specific autoantibodies, an early event in type 1 diabetes pathogenesis, was also observed. 

 

DIAGNOSTICS: RAVEN TO PROVIDE MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES TO MONGOGRAM FOR CANCER DIAGNOSTICS  
South San Francisco, California-based Raven Biotechnologies said it entered into an agreement with South San Francisco, California-based Monogram Biosciences under which Monogram will evaluate selected Raven monoclonal antibodies for use with its technology for diagnosis of cancer. Raven's library of antibody candidates that bind to antigens present at high levels on tumor tissue can be developed as therapeutic and diagnostic antibodies, the company said. The Raven technology platform has generated well-characterized, high-affinity monoclonal antibodies to proteins on the cell surface that can be used to quickly identify and validate targets. Raven is initially focusing on antibody-based therapeutics targeting lung, colon, pancreatic, prostate, breast, and ovarian cancer. Financial terms were not disclosed.

A vaccine being tested for Alzheimer's disease clears beta-amyloid plaques from the brain, but it does not seem to help restore lost learning and memory abilities, according to researchers at the University of California at Irvine. The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that treating beta-amyloid plaques by itself may have only limited clinical benefit if started after there is significant plaque growth. The researchers said, though, that a combination of vaccination with therapies that also target related neuron damage and cognitive decline may provide the best treatment for people with this neurodegenerative disease. In tests with dogs, the researchers found that there was little difference in the behavioral tests of dogs treated with the vaccine and non-treated aged dogs. Dogs are used for such studies because beta-amyloid plaques grow naturally in their brains and they exhibit cognitive declines similar to those seen in humans. Later, brain autopsies of the dogs showed that although plaques had been cleared from multiple brain regions, including a region of the brain involved with learning and memory and primarily affected by Alzheimer's, damaged neurons remained.

ANTIBIOTICS: AIDA PHARMACEUTICALS SAID ITS ACQUISITION IN CHINA IS DEVELOPING WIDE-SPECTRUM BACTERIA FIGHTER
Santa Monica, California-based Aida Pharmaceuticals said its recently acquired research institute in the Jiangsu province of China, the Jiangsu Institute of Microbiology, is developing a new wide-spectrum antibiotic. The antibiotic, called Wetimicin, is from the newest generation of amino-glycoside family of antibiotics and is being tested for the treatment of various inflammations, such as respiratory infection, urinogenital infection, and soft skin tissue infection, as well as infections from trauma and operations. The scientists in Jiangsu believe that it might be safer and more reliable for children and elderly patients than current drug offerings in the marketplace. The drug is undergoing early-stage clinical trials in conjunction with the Chinese government's State Food and Drug Administration. The company believes that mid-stage trials will commence some time in 2008.

PROTEOMICS: PROTEIN DATA BANK ARCHIVES 50,000^th MOLECULE STRUCTURE
The 37-year-old Protein Data Bank based at the University of California, San Diego and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, reached a significant milestone by releasing adding its 50,000th molecule structure to its archive. These structures are vital to pharmacology, bioinformatics, and education, the Protein Data Bank said. The freely available online library allows biological researchers and students to study, store, and share molecular information on a global scale. Officially founded in 1971 with seven molecular structures at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the archive is managed by a consortium called the Worldwide Protein Data Bank.

 

BRAIN CANCER: BIPAR SCIENCES EXPANDS CLINCIAL PROGRAM FOR LEAD PRODUCT
Brisbane, California-based BiPar Sciences said it is expanding the clinical program for the company's lead product candidate, BSI-201, into glioblastoma multiforme, the most common brain cancer in adults. BSI-201 crosses the blood-brain barrier, a unique property that enables its targeted investigation in the brain tumor setting, the company said. This study is being conducted by investigators from the New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy (NABTT) consortium, a National Cancer Institute-funded research group. In addition to glioblastoma multiforme, BiPar is currently enrolling BSI-201 in a randomized mid-stage trial for triple-negative breast cancer and is initiating mid-stage trials in uterine and BRCA-negative ovarian cancers.