PPD routinely strikes strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. But the clinical research organization has entered a different kind of partnership in Scotland with the goal of streamlining the clinical trials process and speeding the regulatory process for new therapies.Wilmington, North Carolina-based PPD has entered an alliance with the National Health Services’s Research Scotland (NRS), the [...]

Cancerlife provides a social platform for cancer center patients to communicate with supporters such as friends, family, people who share their disease and physicians. It also includes a journal to document how they are feeling. But what sets Cancerlife apart from rivals, says president and co-founder Charles Coltman, is that patients can track the side effects they experience from their medications, allowing them to work with their physicians to better tailor the level and types of medication they take.

Epion Health is a digital health company focusing on improving health literacy in the one place it can be reasonably sure it will have the patient’s undivided attention — the physician’s waiting room.

Cytomedix‘s (OTC:CMXI) Aldagen acquisition signaled the company’s intention to establish a strong presence in regenerative medicine therapies and the deal fills needs for both companies. Aldagen, who had tried twice to go public only to withdraw both times amid poor market conditions, gets a partner interested in developing its stem cell treatments. Cytomedix gains prospective [...]

A new treatment for cancer that uses artificial immune cells to trigger the body to kill cancerous cells will raise a series A round this spring and look to an investigational new drug (IND) application next year.NexImmune is an early stage biopharmaceutical company engineering artificial cells that can stimulate the immune system to treat cancer, [...]

A drug that’s already approved by the FDA has shown promise in clearing away a plaque in the brain that’s associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Case Western Reserve University researchers have found.The drug, bexarotene (brand name Targretin), in mice was able to reduce levels of Beta-amyloid plaque, a protein fragment that builds up in the brains [...]

Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:WPI) wants to add a branded drugs focus alongside its generics business and is setting aside $6 billion for acquisitions to do it, according to a report by Bloomberg.Chief executive officer Paul Bisaro said: “Everything we need to be a branded pharma company we have, except for the sales force. … And we [...]

North Carolina clinical research organization Clinipace Worldwide is flexing its muscles abroad with an executive hire that boosts the CRO’s European operations.Dr. Jurgen Frisch has been named chief medical officer for Clinipace’s European operations. He will be based in the company’s offices in Zurich, Switzerland.var page_count = “off”; [...]

The University of Minnesota announced Thursday that it has granted an exclusive license to a San Francisco pharmaceutical company that will commercialize a cyanide-poisoning antidote researchers have developed.Vytacera Pharma Inc. will develop and marketSulfanegen, a compound that can be administered by first responders to victims of smoke inhalation or a large-scale terrorist attack. Current treatments [...]

Celgene (NYSE:CELG) has made a $15 million strategic investment in a cancer drug developer, which gives it a seat on the company’s board and opens up collaboration opportunities down the road.Acetylon Pharmaceuticals uses histone deacetylase or HDAC inhibitors to develop small molecule cancer treatmentsas well as treatments for autoimmune and other diseases. The lead drug [...]