Global Health Needs Extend Beyond HIV/AIDS R&D

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Global Health Needs Extend Beyond HIV/AIDS R&D By Mari Serebrov Washington Editor A singular focus on HIV/AIDS and a lag in translating medical discoveries into approvable medicines could be keeping the U.S. from getting its money's worth from R&D aimed at addressing the most pressing global health needs. While the U.S. government is the leading funder of R&D for 26 of the 30 most neglected diseases and conditions affecting the developing world, nearly 60 percent of the $1 .4 billion the U.S. invests annually in global R&D is dedicated to HIV/AIDS research, according to a recent report from PATH's Global Health Technologies Coalition. The next biggest chunk of U.S. funding, 12 percent, is spent on tuberculosis (TB) R&D, and 10 percent goes for malaria R&D. The rest is divided among other diseases and conditions, such as dengue fever, that afflict many parts of the developing world. Click here to read the issue featuring this article »	Biotechs Hold Less Cash, but Lean Ops Increase Runways By Brian Orelli Bioworld Insight Contributing Writer Editor's note: This is a special reprint from the May 14, 2012, edition of BioWorld Insight. Cash is often biotech's most precious resource, but when a recession hits and capital markets seize up, it can be hard to come by. A report from BMO Capital Markets looking at the cash holdings of public biotechs confirmed the scarcity, finding that cash reserves of unprofitable biotechs of every size went down from 2008 to 2010. At the worst, the median cash balances at biotechs with market caps between $751 million and $1 billion fell 70 percent. Companies with market caps in the $251 million to $500 million range saw their median cash balance fall just 10 percent, but they're not holding nearly as much cash to begin with: just $96 million in 2008, which fell to $86 million in 2010. Click here to read the issue featuring this article »
Adenosine Treatment Could Cement Success of Implants By Anette Breindl Science Editor Researchers at the New York University School of Medicine have identified a treatment that they hope will extend the life expectancy of implants. In animal experiments, treatment with agonists of the adenosine 2A receptor prevented the inflammation and subsequent bone loss that is one of the leading causes of prosthesis loosening and implant failure. The useful life of one of those hip implants is probably on the order of 10 to 15 years, "if things are done correctly," Bruce Cronstein told BioWorld Today. But due to a combination of earlier implant ages and increasing life expectancy, that life expectancy "turns out to be a growing public health problem." Click here to read the issue featuring this article »	Shares Dip as Veloxis Whittles Pipeline to Rejection Candidate By Cormac Sheridan Staff Writer Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S is betting the farm on its late-stage organ transplant rejection drug LCP-Tacro and exiting from all other development activities in an effort to stretch out its rapidly dwindling cash resources. The Hørsholm, Denmark-based firm (formerly called LifeCycle Pharma) plans to reduce its headcount from 60 employees to between 30 and 35, in a move that will yield annualized cash savings of DKK35 million (US$6 million) to DKK40 million from 2013. The company held DKK213.8 million in cash on March 31 but reported a first-quarter net loss of DKK75 million. The company is maintaining its previous financial forecast for 2012, which predicted a year-end cash balance of DKK40 million to DKK80 million. Click here to read the issue featuring this article »

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