Bio Saga Blog - A Chronicle of Life Sciences & Informatics

President Barack Obama officially has launched the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force, which will seek to address unnecessary regulatory barriers to developing new cancer treatments. Members of the task force — which will be chaired by Vice President Joe Biden — include the heads of the FDA, HHS, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health.  The task force, funded by NIH, will present a report to the president before Dec. 31. Peter Pitts, president and founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and a former FDA associate commissioner, said the president should ask HHS to appoint an innovation czar to make the most of resources. Read the White House memorandum here: www.fdanews.com/01-29-16-MoonshotCuresMemo.pdf .

Scientists have discovered a new physical form of proteins that could drastically improve treatments for cancer and other diseases, as well as overcome some of the largest challenges in therapeutics. The protein formulation strategy, developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, is unprecedented and offers a new and universal approach to drug delivery one that could revolutionize treatment of cancer, arthritis and infectious disease. “We believe this discovery of a new highly concentrated form of proteins – clusters of individual protein molecules – is a disruptive innovation that could transform how we fight diseases,” Keith P. Johnston, a chemical engineering professor and member of the National Academy Engineering, said. “It required integration of challenging contributions in fundamental science and engineering from three of our chemical engineering research groups,” he said. Johnston, Chemical Engineering Professor Thomas M. Truskett and Assistant Professor Jennif...

In keeping with Roche's commitment to developing cancer therapies, the company has acquired worldwide exclusive rights to an early stage cancer therapy that is being co-developed by Belgian biopharmaceutical firm Thrombogenics and Swedish antibody developer BioInvent. Under the agreement the two companies will share an upfront payment of EUR50mn (US$78mn) plus up to EUR450mn (US$700mn) based on reaching pre-agreed milestones. The two companies will also receive royalties from eventual product sales, with a 60% share for Thrombogenics and 40% going to BioInvent. The two original developers have retained a co-promotion option covering the Benelux, Nordic and Baltic

A new computer-based method of analyzing cellular activity has correctly predicted the anti-tumour activity of several molecules. Research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Cancer describes 'CoMet' – a tool that studies the integrated machinery of the cell and predicts those components that will have an effect on cancer. Jeffrey Skolnick, in collaboration with John McDonald, led a team from the Georgia Institute of Technology who have developed this new strategy. As Skolnick explains, "This opens up the possibility of novel therapeutics for cancer and develops our understanding of why such metabolites work. CoMet provides a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cancer". Identification of metabolites with anticancer properties by Computational Metabolomics The small molecules that are naturally produced in cells are called metabolites. Enzymes, the biological catalysts that produce and consume these metabolites are cr...

Several times i have discussed the the topic of anti-cancer targets, Novel Enzyme Inhibitor Paves Way for New Cancer Drug: Agent Proves Effective Against Melanoma Cells; Researchers Find that a Small Molecule Can Activate an Important Cancer Suppressor Gene. The development of resistance to anticancer chemotherapeutic agents remains a large problem. In some cases, such resistance is associated with altered control of a cellular process known as translation, which is central to the generation of proteins. New data, generated by Jerry Pelletier and colleagues, at McGill University, Montreal, have identified a drug that can enhance the sensitivity of mouse cancer cells to standard anticancer chemotherapeutic agents. In the study, small molecules were screened for their ability to inhibit the initiation of translation by modifying the function of a protein known as eIF4A, which has a central role in translation initiation. A class of natural drugs known as cyclopenta[b]benzofuran flavag...

Previously blogging on novel anti-cancer molecules in Researchers Find that a Small Molecule Can Activate an Important Cancer Suppressor Gene. Scientists at The Wistar Institute have developed a new type of enzyme inhibitor capable of blocking a biochemical pathway that plays a key role in cancer development by combining natural organic atoms with metal complexes. Based on studies in human melanoma cells, the research paves the way for developing new ways to treat cancer by dampening the overactive enzyme activity that leads to uncontrolled tumor growth. Details of the study, to be published in the May 16 issue of the journal ACS Chemical Biology , show how small-molecule inhibitors can be designed to target a family of signaling proteins, called phosphatidyl-inositol-3-kinases, or PI3Ks. “The PI3K pathway has been called the most mutated pathway in human cancer,” says Ronen Marmorstein, Ph.D., a professor in the Gene Expression and Regulation Program at Wistar and s...

Indian company Dabur India has sold its pharmaceutical division to German healthcare firm Fresenius Kabi. The asset mainly sells generic anticancer agents, and the purchase price was INR872 crore (US$219mn). BMI believes Dabur's real motivation behind the transaction was to focus on its core competency of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs), rather than the official line. According to Dabur's founder and director, Anand Burman, Fresenius is much better equipped in terms of international marketing capabilities to realise the full potential of the division. By not selling, Dabur would have being doing a 'disservice to the shareholders', he added.