FDA approves Allergan’s long-term eye implant for glaucoma

June 26, 2020 Dubbed Durysta, the 10 mcg implant is designed to rest as a small polymer plug on the edge of the iris, underneath the cornea, to help regulate fluid pressure within the eye in people with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.  In phase 3 clinical studies, the sustained-release prostaglandin analog lowered intraocular pressure … Read more

Cancer-killing virus boosts immune-oncology responses in mice in Astellas-led study

June 24, 2020 The researchers engineered a piece of the vaccinia virus, which is part of the poxvirus family, so it can deliver two cytokines that stimulate anti-cancer responses from immune cells: interleukin-7 (IL-7) and IL-12.  When they injected the virus directly into tumors in mice, the cancers regressed, they reported in the journal Science … Read more

How far are we from lab-grown organs? This Y Combinator startup is printing a road map

June 18, 2020 So why are not we, in 2020, growing replacement lungs, livers and kidneys to fill the gap that donor organs cannot address?  “People asked that question back when tissue engineering was being defined in the ‘90s,” said Jordan Miller, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University.  “They said:  ‘We’ve got … Read more

French startup Dianosic nets CE mark for nosebleed-stopping balloon

June 16, 2020 The Strasbourg-based Dianosic plans to eventually make its bloodstopping balloon available in hospitals throughout Europe, the U.S., Japan and China.  After being inserted into the nostril, the company’s CAVI-T device expands to conform to the shape of the cavity and provide light amounts of compression to help stop the bleeding, including at … Read more

Former FDA chief scientist faults agency over COVID-19 antibody test ‘chaos’

June 11, 2020 A month after FDA tightened oversight of the tests and started withdrawing tests from the market, there is still enough concern about false results that the American Medical Association (AMA) is recommending against people using the tests outside of certain settings, added Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, immediate past chair of the AMA’s board … Read more

Grail’s cancer blood test tracks down over 50 types of early-stage disease in study

June 09, 2020 The company’s ongoing Circulating Cell-free Genome Atlas study spans more than 15,000 participants, including those with and without cancer diagnoses.  Results presented last year showed the blood test could detect 12 different early-stage cancers — which together account for nearly two-thirds of all cancer deaths in the U.S. — before they had … Read more

NIH awards $6M grant for noninvasive brain scan helmet

June 02, 2020 The federally funded research and development center will use its $6 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) award to create a more comfortable and, perhaps, more accurate magnetoencephalography (MEG) imaging prototype.  “This is the future of MEG,” Amir Borna, a Lead Investigator on the project, said in the announcement. Typically, clinicians use magnetoencephalography … Read more