Articles By Marcus Johnson

  1. Seres Health Raises $10 Million For Drugs That Rebalance Body's Bacteria 6/10/2014
    Seres Health has announced that it has raised $10 million to develop drugs that rebalance bacteria inside the body. Seres Health also announced that it has entered into an exclusive research collaboration with the Mayo Clinic. The funds were raised from investors such as the Mayo Clinic, Alexandria Venture Investments, Flagship Investors, and Enso Ventures. The company raised $10.5 million this past November, bringing the total amount the company has raised to $20.5 million.
  2. Researchers Discover New Molecule For Monitoring Epilepsy Treatments 6/10/2014
    Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have announced that they have discovered a new molecule-based system for monitoring epilepsy treatments. The scientists have published their research in the Nature Chemical Biology journal. The published paper outlines how the researchers were able to use a new molecule-based system in order to quickly and effectively determine how much of a drug is currently in a patient’s system.
  3. Merck Agrees To Purchase Idenix For $3.85 Billion 6/10/2014

    Drug industry heavyweight Merck has announced that it will be purchasing Idenix Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company, for $3.85 billion. Idenix Pharmaceuticals, based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, develops drugs for human viral diseases, focusing in particular on treatments for hepatitis C virus, or HCV. This move could be a smart one for Merck, considering that the market for HCV treatment is estimated to hit $200 billion worldwide over the next 15 years.

  4. Study Finds Selecting Cheaper Eye Drug Could Save U.S. Billions 6/9/2014

    Researchers at the University of Michigan have found that if eye doctors began to prescribe a less expensive eye drug for the wet form of macular degeneration or those who have diabetic macular edema, the U.S. Medicare system could save as much as $18 billion over 10 years. Patients suffering from these two conditions currently have two treatment options: bevacizumab (branded as Avastin), which costs $55 per treatment, or ranibizumab (branded as Lucentis) which costs $2,023 per treatment. Ranibizumab is almost 40 times more expensive than bevacizumab, and the researchers found that the drugs are very similar in terms of efficacy, safety, and side effects. Both drugs are injected into the patients’ eyes during visits to the doctor.

  5. Momenta Pancreatic Cancer Drug Given Orphan Designation 6/9/2014
    Momenta Pharmaceuticals announced that it has received orphan designation for its pancreatic cancer drug. The drug once called M402, is now referred to as necuparanib. The drug’s new orphan designation will allow Momenta to take advantage of several incentives during the drug’s development process as well as an extended seven year period for exclusive licensing if the drug is ultimately approved by the FDA.
  6. Medicenna Therapeutics Chooses CMO Kalon To Manufacture New Drug 6/9/2014
    Texas A&M-based Kalon Biotherapeutics has announced that it has been chosen by Medicenna Therapeutics as the contract manufacturer for the development, testing, and commercialization of several new drugs in the Medicenna pipeline.
  7. Cystic Fibrosis Drug Could Work In Higher Percentage Of Patients 6/9/2014
    Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ cystic fibrosis drug, Kalydeco, has had success in mid-stage trials — so much so, in fact, that there is speculation that the number of patients being successfully treated with the drug could double within a few years. Kalydeco is already approved for patients with nine specific genetic mutations. However, the mid-stage trial showed that the drug could be effective in those afflicted with cystic fibrosis due to a residual function mutation, for which the drug had not yet been approved as a treatment. The drug has been successful in the market thus far, with Vertex expecting to collect between $470 and $500 million this year in sales.
  8. Advanced Cancer Therapeutics Begins Phase 1 Human Trials For Anti-Cancer Drug 6/9/2014

    Advanced Cancer Therapeutics LLC has announced that it is beginning a phase 1 trial of a new anti-cancer drug called PFK-158. The drug works by starving cancer cells of the glucose that they need in order to fuel growth and multiply.

  9. Study Shows Ibrutinib Increases Leukaemia Survival Rates To 90 Percent 6/5/2014

    A new global phase III clinical trial completed at the Melbourne Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre has shown that patients taking the leukaemia drug Ibrutinib encountered a 90 percent chance of survival, which was 9 percent higher than the 81 percent who survive when treated with standard chemotherapy treatments.

  10. Novartis Rare Blood Cancer Drug Extends Lives Of Patients 6/5/2014
    Novartis AG, which is based out of Switzerland, has announced that its investigational blood cancer drug Jakavi (ruxolitinib) has helped to extend the lives of patients in a late stage study. Ruxolitinib was designed to treat patients suffering from polycythemia vera, which is an incurable blood cancer. The condition causes an overproduction of blood cells in the patients’ bone marrow, which can lead to a number of serious complications. Among those complications are cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks and strokes.