| Clarient Receives Patents for Taxane Biomarker (PR Newswire) Clarient, Inc. , a premier technology and services resource for pathologists, oncologists and the pharmaceutical industry, today announced that the United Kingdom Patent Office has granted a U.K. patent on the Company's TLE3 biomarker, a marker which may be used to predict which cancer patients will respond favorably to taxane therapy. Â In addition, the Company has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a U.S. patent on the TLE3 biomarker. Â Other patents for the TLE3 biomarker are pending in the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, India and elsewhere in Europe. us.rd.yahoo.com |
Missouri Voters Oppose Mandatory Health Insurance Voters in Missouri overwhelmingly opposed requiring people to buy health insurance, in a largely symbolic slap at the Obama administration's health overhaul. online.wsj.com |
J&J Unit Recalls Hip Replacement Systems J&J's DePuy orthopedic-device unit is recalling hip replacement parts implanted in about 93,000 people world-wide because of the high rate of repeat surgeries needed. online.wsj.com |
Aetna CEO to Retire Aetna Chairman and CEO Ronald A. Williams will step down as CEO next month, to be succeeded by President Mark T. Bertolini. online.wsj.com |
Promising Data Puts Exelixis Back on Track Ohad Hammer submits:After a challenging year, Exelixis (EXEL) is finishing 2010 on a positive note, with the help of promising data for its lead agent, XL184. Last week at the EORTC conference, the company published data from a large phase II study in multiple cancer types. The results came at a crucial time for Exelixis, as many were questioning the value of XL184 following BMS’ (BMY) decision to opt-out of its development. As discussed in a previous post, when a partner like BMS dumps a late stage clinical asset after a licensing payment of over $150M, the alarm bells start ringing. XL184 inhibits several targets, primarily VEGFR2 and Met. As a multi-targeted kinase inhibitor, the drug has some overlap with other drugs, primarily VEGFR inhibitors. There are two drugs that inhibit VEGFR (in addition to other targets) currently in the market as well as a long list of VEGFR inhibitors in late stage clinical testing from GSK (GSK), AstraZeneca (AZN), BMS and Aveo (AVEO). The main question regarding XL184 is whether the drug has a differentiated clinical profile in comparison to other VEGFR inhibitors. Based on recent data presented at EORTC the answer is a resounding “YES”.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |