Researchers tagged gold nanoparticles with a small dose of radiation to trace the particles as they deliver a drug into the heart of a cancer cell, according to work presented at the 2016 National Cancer Research Institute conference. A team of researchers from the Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology worked to deliver drugs to the “control […]
Oncology
Researchers stunt growth of ovarian cancer with nanohydrogels
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a targeted therapy using nanohydrogels to stunt the growth of ovarian tumors in in vivo tests in mice, according to a new study. The nanohydrogel is a gel pellet that researchers can load with RNA to carry into cancer cells and knock down a particular protein. “The dramatic […]
Lab models drug-eluting polymer beads in blood flow
Researchers from the University of Huddersfield developed a method to predict how drug-eluting polymer beads can affect the body if they are modified. The UK team published their work in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Polymer beads are frequently used in cases of liver cancer, where they’re injected into a patient’s arteries to block blood flow […]
Navidea reels in losses, boosts sales in Q3
Shares in Navidea (NYSE:NAVB) rose yesterday after the company met expectations on Wall Street with its 3rd quarter results. The Dublin, Ohio-based company pared its losses by -99.3% to -$59,377 on sales of $8.5 million for the 3 months ended Sept. 30, for sales growth of 112.5% compared with the same period last year. Earnings per share were […]
Novocure reports 142% boost in sales for Q3
Shares in Novocure (NSDQ:NVCR) rose nearly 30% yesterday after the medical device maker met expectations on Wall Street with its 3rd-quarter results. The St. Helier, N.J.-based company pared its losses by -29% to -$33.6 million, or -39¢ per share, on sales of $21.7 million for the 3 months ended Sept. 30, for sales growth of 142% […]
BriaCell names ex-GSK exec Williams as CEO | Personnel Moves, Nov. 1, 2016
BriaCell Thereapeutics (CVE:BCT) said last week that it named biotechnology veteran Dr. William Williams as its president & CEO effective Nov. 1. The Berkeley, Calif.-based company’s lead product is a genetically engineered, whole-cell vaccine derived from a human breast tumor cell line. BriaCell suggests that the vaccine may be able to trigger the immune system to […]
Jivana Biotechnology raises $1m for targeted cancer therapy
Jivana Biotechnology raised $1 million for its preclinical work using targeted RNA-based therapies to treat a variety of cancers, according to a regulatory filing the Oak Park, Ill.-based company submitted this week. The minimum investment from an outside investor was $50,000, the company reported, and it used an estimated $125,000 for payments to its executive […]
In-utero heart surgery patient is now 3 and healthy
At just 24 weeks of gestation, Tucker Roussin underwent fetal surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to treat a life-threatening tumor connected to his heart. Now, he is a healthy 3-year-old preschooler, the hospital reported today. Intrapericardial teratoma is a rare, rapidly growing tumor that can be detected while the child is in utero. […]
FDA delays Inovio phase III trial of DNA immunotherapy candidate
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:INO) said today that the FDA placed a hold on its proposed Phase III clinical program for its investigational DNA immunotherapy candidate designed to treat pre-cancers and cancers caused by human papillomavirus. The California-based company completed a randomized, double-blind Phase II trial of the candidate in July 2014, evaluating the DNA immunotherapy treatment in women […]
Bacterial nanostructures developed to locally deliver proteins
panish researchers demonstrated that bacterial inclusion bodies, non-toxic nanostructures, hold promise for a sustained, local delivery of protein drugs by mimicking components of a mammal’s endocrine system. New materials developed as controllable, localized systems of drug delivery often aim to be immobilized in a given tissue as a drug “depot” for long term supply of […]
Gold nanoparticles hold promise for pancreatic cancer treatment
Gold nanoparticles could be an important part of developing a treatment for pancreatic cancer, according to new research published yesterday in the journal ACS Nano. Previous work has demonstrated that gold nanoparticles can be an effective vehicle to carry chemotherapy drugs into tumors. They can also act as a target to enhance the impact of radiation […]