Vanessa Kachadurian Bioscience

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Vanessa Kachadurian Bioscience

Amgen's ($AMGN) promising cardio drug aced its 6th late-stage study, the company said, beating out statins in patients with a cholesterol-boosting genetic disorder and widening the drugmaker's lead in a potentially lucrative new field.
In its latest Phase III trial, Amgen said evolocumab (AMG 145) met its primary endpoint of significantly lowering LDL cholesterol in 49 patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, a rare ailment that lifts "bad" cholesterol levels to dangerous highs in adolescents. Evolocumab works by blocking the protein PCSK9 and thus helping the body clear LDL cholesterol from the blood, and Amgen said its latest study was the first to test out the pathway in patients with the disease, which affects about one in a million people.
The top-line success comes on the heels of 5 Phase III wins for evolocumab, and Amgen is working through a total of 14 studies on the drug with eyes on filing an FDA application this year. If everything goes according to plan, the California biotech will be the first PCSK9 player on the market, getting first crack at what could be a $10 billion market and beating out Regeneron ($REGN) and Sanofi's ($SNY) alirocumab and Pfizer's ($PFE) bococizumab (RN-316).

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Vanessa Kachadurian Bioscience merger of Myriad Genetics with Crescendo Biosciences

Myriad Genetics (MYGN), a developer of medical tests from molecular information stored in people's genes, acquired this week privately-held Crescendo Bioscience, another diagnostics maker with a widely used test for rheumatoid arthritis. At first glance, the acquisition makes a lot of sense for Myriad, adding a ready-made capability in a complementary line, but also this week, the scientific landscape changed markedly for rheumatoid arthritis and similar disorders, adding a wrinkle into Myriad's plans for the company.
The explosion of genetic information in the past 20 years, from a combination of scientific discovery and massively increasing computer power, vastly increased our knowledge of the way disease progresses in the human body, making this type of information vital for diagnosis and treatments. Myriad Genetics, based in Salt Lake City, develops tests for hereditary risks of several types of cancer: breast, ovarian, colon and colorectal, melanoma (advanced skin cancer), lung and pancreatic cancer. The company's tests also can help guide a patient's individual chemotherapy dosing and toxicity tolerance, as well as predict the aggressiveness of prostate cancer.

Vanessa Kachadurian, Bioscience firm in Colorado raised $2.274 million in new funding

BOULDER - Mosaic Biosciences Inc. raised $2.274 million in new funding, according to a federal regulatory document.

In all, the Boulder-based company plans to raise $2.31 million in all in the latest funding round, according to the federal regulatory document. Company co-founder and president Marty Stanton did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Mosaic makes a water-soluble gel that can be used to fill and heal wounds. The gel currently is going through testing required to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. It's made of polyethylene glycol, which also is used in cosmetics, drugs and food additives in the United States.

Stanton co-founded the company in 2009 with research colleagues at the University of Colorado-Boulder, including Pete Mariner, Kristi Anseth and Chris Bowman. The company licensed the gel substance for an undisclosed sum from Anseth's research lab at CU-Boulder, where it was developed over a period of five years.

The gel substance has biophysical and biochemical properties that support a patient's tissue structure. As a wound heals, the gel is taken over by healthy cells and dissolves into the body over a two-week period, according to Mariner.

The tissue-regeneration substance also can be used in bone regeneration and cartilage repair. It can be used on patients with bed sores, or as stem-cell therapy.

Stanton previously raised $1.3 million in venture capital funding in 2011. Well-known bioscience venture capital firms HealthCare Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Morganthaler Ventures in Menlo Park, California, with an office in Boulder, High Country Ventures in Boulder and Ganot Capital LLC in Hollywood, Florida, have all put money into the company in the past.

Vanessa Kachadurian Bioscience Firm in Kansas City rewarded for adding 230 jobs!!

This is what America is all about!!!

State incentives will help a global life sciences company create 230 new jobs in south Kansas City.
Catalent Pharma Solutions Inc., which has a 50-employee workforce at 10245 Hickman Mills Drive in Marion Business Park, will receive $2.65 million through the Missouri Quality Jobs program if it meets job and investment targets, said Amy Susan, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
Missouri Quality Jobs allows employers to retain the withholding taxes of eligible employees for a number of years.
Besides the 230 new jobs, the expansion calls for Catalent to invest $30 million in the south Kansas City site.
RELATED: Global pharma company will add 230 jobs in south KC
Based in Somerset, N.J., Catalent acquired Aptuit Inc.'s drug-development operations in Marion Business Park two years ago. Marion Business Park is the former home of Marion Laboratories and current home of Cerner Corp.'s Innovation Campus.
Gov. Jay Nixon and Kansas City Mayor Sly James are scheduled to visit the south Kansas City site Tuesday for a formal announcement of Catalent's expansion.
The expansion news is the latest of several positive economic development announcements involving Kansas City. Last month, Cerner confirmed plans to create as many as 15,000 new jobs as part of a $4.3 billion plan to redevelop the former Bannister Mall site, and Aviation Technical Services announced that it would create 500 jobs at Kansas City International Airport. Last week, Sedgwick LLP, an international law firm based in San Francisco, announced plans to create a new 100-job administrative center in Kansas City.

Vanessa Kachadurian Bioscience response of Oxidation in Cells

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new method for accurately measuring a key process governing a wide variety of cellular functions that may become the basis for a "health checkup" for living cells.
The NIST technique measures changes in a living cell's internal redox (reduction-oxidation) potential, a chemistry concept that expresses the favorability of reactions in which molecules or atoms either gain or lose electrons. Redox reactions are important to cell chemistry because they regulate many genes and the proteins they produce. An accurate measure of redox potential can provide insight into how well these genes are working, and in turn, whether or not the activities they control—such as differentiation and growth—are functioning normally.
To assess this, scientists customarily measure the levels of both the reduced (electrons added) and oxidized (electrons lost) forms of glutathione, a peptide the cell uses as an antioxidant. Glutathione in cells is found predominately in the reduced state, known as GSH, but some gets converted to the oxidized form, known as GSSG. A high amount of GSSG indicates a cell has suffered oxidative stress, a process believed to contribute to cell aging, breakdown, malfunction (such as cancer) and eventual death.
Unfortunately, traditional methods of obtaining this data are akin to an autopsy. The only way to measure the relative amounts of GSH and GSSG within a cell has been to rupture its membrane—killing it—and then examine the released contents.
The NIST team developed a way to measure GSH and GSSG levels in living cells in real time using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)spectroscopy, a technique that images individual molecules similar to how doctors use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to noninvasively view organs. "NMR has been shown in recent years to be a powerful tool for studying metabolites as they operate in living cells, so we felt it could work well as a noninvasive way to do the same for GSH and GSSG," says NIST research chemist Vytas Reipa.
In their proof-of-concept experiment,* the NIST researchers grew a mutant strain of yeast cells that could not manufacture their own glutathione in a medium containing the peptide tagged with a nitrogen isotope. This ensured that the only glutathione available in the cells would be detectable using NMR during its conversion from GSH to GSSG.
GSH and GSSG levels were measured by NMR for both cells at rest and under oxidative stress, and then used to calculate the changing intracellular redox potentials over time. The results showed, for the first time ever, that redox potential can serve as an indicator of how cells perform in response to oxidation in real time.
"We know that when oxidation tips the balance toward too much GSSG, we get a redox potential shifted more to the positive than it should be," Reipa explains. "A healthy cell compensates by reversing the process and when that happens, the redox potential shifts back to its original value. A sick cell, on the other hand, does not compensate and the value stays positive. Therefore, an accurate in-cell measurement of redox potential could one day help us determine how well cells can recover from oxidative stress and, as a result, give us a picture of the cell's overall health."
Currently, the NIST researchers are exploring other NMR-detectable peptides involved in reduction and oxidation processes to conduct studies with mammalian cells.
The NMR spectroscopy in this experiment was conducted at NIST's Gaithersburg, Md., facility in collaboration with NIST scientists at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) in Charleston, S.C., and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) in Rockville, Md.
Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST

Vanessa Kachadurian Bioscience, Liventa Bioscience partners with Medline

Philadelphia, Pa. (PRWEB) February 12, 2014

Liventa Bioscience (formerly AFCell Medical), the trusted innovator in living donor birth tissues to advance wound care healing, has joined forces with industry leader Medline Industries, Inc. to enter the U.S. wound care market.
The partnership will introduce Liventa’s advanced placental-based technology to Medline’s extensive customer base of Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospitals, non-VA hospitals, home health care, wound care centers and other care providers. The partnership will allow Liventa’s innovative wound care technology to be used in the treatment of chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, pressure ulcers and other hard-to-heal chronic skin ulcers.
“Medline’s industry leading track record of supplying high quality products and services to the VA system and other health care providers combined with Liventa’s innovative living donor processing technology is a truly synergistic combination,” said David Buche, chief operating officer for Liventa Bioscience. “Medline’s commitment to advanced biologics for wound care combined with their supply chain management expertise creates the ideal solution for wound care centers that seek to control costs while simultaneously enhancing their quality of care.”
Medline’s extensive on-staff clinical and product expertise and exceptional sales and service organization provides a strong platform for introducing Liventa’s advanced innovation into the entire continuum of care, including hospitals, nursing homes, home health care providers and wound care centers over the course of the partnership.
About Medline
As the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of health care products, Medline is a leading provider of innovative advanced wound care products, programs and educational support. Medline’s team of clinical consultants and product experts provide comprehensive wound care solutions to healthcare providers throughout the country. Overall, Medline manufactures and distributes more than 350,000 products to hospitals, extended care facilities, surgery centers, physician offices, home care agencies and providers, and retailers. Named one of the country’s "Best and Brightest Companies to Work For,” Medline is headquartered in Mundelein, Ill. and has more than 1,100 dedicated sales representatives to support its broad product line and cost management services. For more information on Medline, go to http://www.medline.com. Click here to find out how to connect with Medline on a variety of social media channels for the most recent news on initiatives, innovations and products.
About Liventa Bioscience
Liventa Bioscience is a privately held, commercial stage biotechnology company focused on bringing advanced biologics to market. Its innovative allograft tissue forms come from living donors and are available through independent distribution. Liventa is currently offering or is in the process of developing a number of advanced orthopedic biologics. These products include human collagen membrane sheets derived from placental tissues, flowable wound coverings, synovial fluid transplants and innovative new soft tissue repair implants.
Liventa’s advanced biologics for wound care include a range of placental derived coverings, which promise to significantly improve the cost/efficacy dynamic for chronic wound care patients. In addition to its strategic alliance with Medline, Liventa is also a key strategic partner with Cryoport, Inc. and Crosslink Orthopaedics.
For more information on Liventa, visit http://www.liventabioscience.com.
About Robin Young
Liventa Chief Executive Officer, Robin Young has more than three decades of experience in medical technology and is one of the leading regenerative medicine technology experts in the United States. He is the founder and CEO of the annual New York Stem Cell Summit now in its eighth year. Young is also publisher of Orthopedics This Week, a leading industry journal. He has published more than 1,000 research reports and six books regarding regenerative medicine technologies and markets. Young was named “Best on the Street” by the Wall Street Journal and was identified as one of the top ten analysts in the United States by Institutional Investor Magazine.
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/02/prweb11576903.htm

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Vanessa Kachadurian Biosciences for CNS increasing in USA, Retrophin, Inc., acquires Kyalin Bioscience

Vanessa Kachadurian Bioscience studies why there is so much technology focusing on CNS. Hint Hint, it has to do with an aging population and an average person losing between 10,000 and 50,000 brain cells a day.

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20131212-905193.html?dsk=y

Acquisition expands Retrophin's CNS Pipeline

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 12, 2013--

Retrophin, Inc. (OTCQB: RTRX) today announced that it will acquire privately-held Kyalin Biosciences, Inc., an early-stage company based in San Diego, CA, that is developing therapies targeting the core symptoms of autism and related conditions. Its lead product is an optimized intranasal delivery form of carbetocin, a synthetic analog of the naturally occurring peptide hormone, oxytocin. The deal is scheduled to close by year-end.

As part of the transaction, Srinivas Rao, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and President of Kyalin Biosciences, joins Retrophin effective today as Executive Vice President, Head of Neuroscience with responsibility for central nervous system (CNS) drug development.

"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Kyalin Biosciences and look forward to leveraging Dr. Rao's extensive work and expertise, particularly in the area of autism, as we seek to bring new treatment options to this catastrophic condition," said Martin Shkreli, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Retrophin. "Kyalin's development of carbetocin for the treatment of autism and related conditions is a seamless fit with our strategy, which was outlined in this morning's announcement of our U.S. licensing agreement with Novartis for intranasal Syntocinon, and our planned clinical trial program for potential use of the drug as a treatment for schizophrenia and autism."

Dr. Rao has more than 13 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, in both R&D and senior management positions. Prior to Kyalin Biosciences, Dr. Rao spent approximately 11 years at Cypress Bioscience, Inc., most recently as Chief Scientific Officer, where he played key roles in both preclinical and clinical drug development. In addition, he played an integral role in business development at Cypress, with responsibility for all aspects of technical diligence, as well as negotiation and financial modeling on a select number of opportunities, including intranasal carbetocin for the treatment of autism. Further, Dr. Rao was responsible for the development, prosecution, and maintenance of Cypress' patent estate and was the inventor on more than 30 patents and patent applications filed at Cypress for a range of indications. He is the parent of two sons with autism.

Dr. Rao earned an M.S. and B.S. in electrical engineering, as well as an M.D. and Ph.D., from Yale University. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. His Ph.D. research focused on the neuropharmacology of working memory. Dr. Rao has published 17 manuscripts with topics ranging from original, basic science and clinical research to invited, topical reviews. He currently serves as an advisor to the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI).

About Kyalin Biosciences

Kyalin Biosciences develops therapies targeting the core symptoms of autism and related conditions. While autism affects 1 in 88 children in the U.S. (CDC, 2013), there are no approved therapies for the core social and repetitive behavior deficits associated with autism. Kyalin's lead product is a highly optimized intranasal delivery form of carbetocin, the latter a synthetic version of the natural occurring peptide hormone oxytocin. This asset represents a potential breakthrough treatment for the core deficits that characterize the autistic spectrum disorders. Intranasal carbetocin leverages the natural biology of oxytocin, the 'trust hormone' shown to promote affiliative behavior in hundreds of studies. For additional information, please visit www.kyalinbio.com.

About Retrophin

Retrophin is a pharmaceutical company focused on the development, acquisition and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of serious, catastrophic or rare diseases for which there are currently no viable options for patients. The Company's pipeline includes compounds for several catastrophic diseases, including Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN), Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and others. Retrophin's lead compound, Sparsentan, formerly known as RE-021, is scheduled to begin enrollment in a potentially pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial for FSGS during 2013. The Company also intends to initiate clinical trials for intranasal oxytocin as a potential treatment for schizophrenia and autism. For additional information, please visit www.retrophin.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Without limiting the foregoing, these statements are often identified by the words "may", "might", "believes", "thinks", "anticipates", "plans", "expects", "intends" or similar expressions. In addition, expressions of our strategies, intentions or plans are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in the press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the Company's business. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond our control. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Investors are referred to the full discussion of risks and uncertainties as included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT: Retrophin, Inc.

Marc Panoff, CFO

646-564-3671

marc@retrophin.com

SOURCE: Retrophin, Inc.