Sunshine Biopharma Inc. (OTCQB: SBFM) reported on Thursday that it is in negotiations with Contract Manufacturing Organizations, or CMOs, as the next progression towards the anticipated clinical trials of its flagship cancer drug, Adva-27a, against multi-drug resistant forms of breast cancer. Read More

Soligenix, Inc. (OTCBB: SNGX) said Tuesday morning that the Food and Drug Administration has granted a “Fast Track” designation for OrbeShield (oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate or oral BDP), the company’s treatment in development for the reduction of mortality associated with Gastrointestinal Acute Radiation Syndrome, or GI ARS. Read More

By Rex Graham

A Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) genital herpes vaccine recently flopped in a large clinical trial, but “next generation” genital herpes vaccines by Genocea Biosciences, Agenus, Inc. (AGEN), Vical, Inc. (VICL), and Sanofi Pasteur (SNY) offer new hope for an effective vaccine treatment.

A Yale University study published in the Nov. 15, 2012, issue of Nature described a simple technique to “pull” memory immune cells, a few days after genital herpes vaccination shots, directly Read More

Early this week, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch published an analyst report on Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTPs) detailing the significant impact that MRTPs will have on the $748 billion annual worldwide tobacco industry. “We are on the eve of what we all believe could be a paradigm shift for our industry,” Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) CEO, Louis Camilleri was quoted. The new products have “the very real potential to not only be a game-changer, but also be the key to unlock several hitherto virgin territories, most notably the huge Chinese market.”

Indeed MRTPs could revolutionize the tobacco industry and generate untold profits for the most innovative, consumer-acceptable products. BOA goes into great detail describing “Modified Smoking” products which mimic smoking such as e-cigarettes and heat, not burn, products, and “Alternatives to Smoking” such as snus, dissolvables and nicotine replacement products. Examples are these products are marketed at Read More

Demographic trends towards an aging population, soaring diagnosis rates in diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease are just a few of the factors that are driving growth and spurring innovation to better serve millions of wound care patients each year.  The wound care industry has many verticals for sales, but probably none more critical than diabetic foot ulcers.  Diabetic foot ulcers affect about 15 percent of the nearly 26 million people with diabetes in the United States, and Read More

Broadly speaking, regenerative medicine is an innovative new area of medicine that is focused on the development of new therapies that enable healing and repair of the body in ways that overcome the limitations of conventional medical treatments.  Regenerative medicine uses a range of approaches, including cell based therapies, stem cells, tissue engineering and others, that represent Read More

Commenting on the October 25 approval by the European Commission for its gene therapy, Glybera®, Dutch biotech company uniQure said Monday it plans to start selling Glybera in Europe by mid-2013 and predicted a boom of similar therapies.  The EC approval marks Glybera as the first gene therapy to be approved in the Western world. Read More

Ventrus Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: VTUS) said Monday that, based upon written communication with the FDA, they anticipate filing a new drug application for VEN 307 (diltiazem hydrochloride cream, a calcium channel blocker) as a new therapeutic for anal fissures upon completion of a second Phase 3 study.  The New York City-based biotech specializing in gastrointestinal products has begun enrollment for the clinical trial and expects results early in the fourth quarter of Read More

On the heels of a steady stream of corporate developments in October that showcased the promising data that continues to build regarding its MultiStem® cell therapy, Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX) announced Thursday morning that its subsidiary, ReGenesys BVBA, recently received the BioProcess International Award for the “Technical Application of the Decade” in Manufacturing for its use of an automated bioreactor system for the production of MultiStem. Read More

The biotechnology sector, as well as the healthcare sector, have been some of the strongest performers throughout 2012 even though biotech Exchange Traded Funds are cooling over the past week which has carved away at some of the yearly gains. For example, the SPDR S&P Biotech Index ETF (XBI) is still holding gains above 30 percent for the year after being as high as nearly 50 percent gains a few weeks ago.  iShares Dow Jones U.S. Medical Devices (IHI) as slipped from highs as well after being up more than 20 percent and is still Read More