Research

Johnson & Johnson today announced the opening of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation centre in London, one of four regional hubs being established this year in the world's leading innovation hotspots.  A part of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, the goal of the London innovation centre is to accelerate the best early stage science in the world and advance the development of new healthcare solutions.   

Bristol-Myers Squibb has awarded grants totaling $175,000 to the American Cancer Society Eastern Division and Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS) to support comprehensive navigation services for patients with cancer both independently and as part of a collaborative effort among several hospitals in central New Jersey.

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company have announced plans to expand their recent research collaboration to search for new drug targets for a variety of diseases.

The new agreement extends an initial collaboration launched in 2010 between scientists on the Florida campus of TSRI and Envoy Therapeutics that led to several breakthroughs in identifying potential new compounds for neurological and psychiatric diseases. Envoy was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals last November.

GVK BIO, Asia’s leading Contract Research and Development organization and Onconova Therapeutics, a U.S. based biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on discovery and development of novel small molecules for Oncology, today announced that they have entered into a novel joint partnership to develop new drugs for Cancer.

Sanofi US announced today that Registries for All Diseases has been selected as the winner of the Collaborate Activate Innovation Challenge.

Janssen Research & Development, LLC  today announced it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval for a fixed-dose therapy combining canagliflozin and immediate release metformin to treat patients with type 2 diabetes.

Pfizer Inc. said Wednesday that an experimental breast cancer drug it is developing was more effective than an older therapy at slowing the progression of advanced breast cancer.

Geron Corp. said it has stopped developing its treatment for brain cancers, and will cut its work force and replace its chief financial officer.

The pharmaceutical company said it plans to reduce its work force by 40% to 64 full-time positions. It expects to lower its annual cash operating expenses from about $65 million in 2012 to about $33 million in 2013--which includes nonrecurring costs of about $3 million associated with the restructuring and about $3 million for the discontinuation of clinical trials.

In a commentary to be published in the Dec. 12 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, two Johns Hopkins faculty members predict an ever-diminishing role for government and drug company funding of basic biomedical research and suggest scientists look to 'innovative' kinds of private investment for future resources.

Current negotiations in Washington over sequestration and the so-called 'fiscal cliff' provide an opportunity to fundamentally rethink the funding of biomedical research, they say.