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Pharmaceuticals Update
Cytochroma Receives Regulatory Approval To Initiate Trial
Cytochroma Inc. (Markham) announced that it has received regulatory approval to initiate a Phase Ia clinical trial in Canada with CTA018, a topical drug for the treatment of mild to moderate psoriasis. CTA018 is a member of a new class of vitamin D analogues with a dual mechanism of action, called Vitamin D Signal Amplifiers. This proprietary new drug is both a potent inhibitor of CYP24 (the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of vitamin D) and a potent activator of vitamin D signaling pathways. CTA018 will be the first drug with this novel dual mechanism of action to enter clinical development. Preclinical studies have shown that CTA018 inhibits the proliferation of rapidly dividing cells such as human epidermal keratinocytes (skin cells) and is also effective in inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion which may be involved in the etiology of psoriasis. Cytochroma anticipates that CTA018 will be more potent than currently marketed vitamin D analogues such as calcitriol and calcipotriol and it is expected to have a greater safety index.
LAB International licenses Fentanyl Taifun(R) in Asia
LAB International Inc. (Laval), an integrated drug development company focused on the inhalation market, announced that its drug development subsidiary, LAB Pharma, and SK Chemicals Co. Ltd. (Seoul, Korea) have entered into a licensing and development agreement for Fentanyl Taifun(R), LAB's fast-acting Fentanyl formulation delivered using the Company's approved Taifun(R) dry powder inhaler platform. "SK Chemicals has the expertise, resources and commitment to successfully launch Fentanyl Taifun(R) into the Chinese and South Korean markets," said Dr. Halvor Jaeger, CEO of LAB. "Our success in partnering for Europe, South America, China and South Korea reflects the confidence the industry has in the commercial potential of our inhaled fentanyl product. We are now focusing our commercialization efforts on ongoing negotiations with potential North American and Japanese partners."
Diagnostics and Therapeutics Update
IMI announces new PREVU study with Montreal Heart Institute
IMI International Medical Innovations Inc. (Toronto), a leader in predictive medicine, announced a new multi-center skin sterol study, led by the prestigious Montreal Heart Institute. The study will determine whether skin sterol values measured by PREVU Point of Care Skin Sterol Test are substantially equivalent to skin sterol values as measured by IMI's new lab-processed format of the test, PREVU Skin Sterol Test LT.
ProMetic Achieves Further Milestone with Serono
ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (Montreal) announced that its Mimetic Ligand(TM) technology has achieved the most critical milestone of the Company's collaboration with Serono S.A., the third largest biotech company in the world. ProMetic's technology achieved the purity and yield requirements of Serono and maintained its performance throughout the scale-up process. The project initiated in March 2004 was performed at a rapid pace, keeping our target to deliver a complete technology transfer package to Serono by year-end. This included the provision of quantities of GMP grade affinity adsorbent. This material can be used by Serono to manufacture larger quantities of a protein to meet the needs of its ongoing clinical trials program.
Canada's Biotech Sector Ready to Grow Up?
Canada's biotech sector may finally be on the road to a sustained recovery after a series of short-lived remissions. A number of long-awaited projects are almost ready to bear fruit as a handful of companies get ready to introduce new drugs while others are weeks away from pivotal trial results. About 30 Canadian biotechs have products in the pipeline, according to Martin Garand, assistant vice president of global equity research at TAL Global Asset Management Inc. "They are not all going to succeed," he said, "but if you just go with the average, at least a couple will make it." Success for even a few of the Canadian biotechs could help turn around the Toronto Stock Exchange's health-care sector, which has fallen about 15 percent so far this year as investors took their money out of the industry and backed resource-based stocks. It doesn't help that Biovail Corp., Canada's largest publicly traded drugmaker, has lost a third of its value, partly on fears that it will not meet its reduced profit guidance. Overall, the industry's performance is a drastic change from 2003, when Canadian health-care stocks rose 15 percent, recovering from the tech bust along with the rest of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
HIV Vaccine: One Step Closer to Clinical Trial
Dr. Francisco Diaz-Mitoma, Head of Virology at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and CEO of Variation Biotechnologies Inc. is leading research into an HIV vaccine that holds tremendous promise. While almost 38 million people are living with HIV worldwide, many more become infected every day, including increasing infection rates among children. A key pre-clinical phase of research on the HIV Variosite(TM) vaccine was recently completed and preliminary data are cause for optimism. Unlike others, the HIV Variosite(TM) vaccine works by boosting all arms of the immune system and is effective against many genetically distinct variants of HIV. According to Dr. Diaz-Mitoma, "This vaccine is unique because it can mobilize a person's full immunity which means preventing the build up of resistance to treatment like we are seeing with 's HIV medications. The vaccine will be tested in humans in just over a year and has the potential to expand current approaches to the treatment and prevention of HIV worldwide." He continues, "When the technology used to develop this vaccine was first patented I wanted to focus its potential on a virus whose solution would do the maximum amount of good for the greatest number of people. I feel that the outcomes of our research to date support that this truly can make a fundamental difference to the lives of many, many people."
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-07-29 05:18
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