Top 5 News Stories 8/10 – 8/17

1.) Pharmalucence gets FDA approval for melanoma test Mass High Tech – 08/16/2012

In the midst of building its new facility in Billerica, Pharmalucence Inc. has received FDA approval to expand the allowed uses of its sulfur colloid injection (SCI) to include localization of lymph nodes in malignant melanoma patients. Link

2.) Harvard serial entrepreneur pioneers ‘big data’ storage on DNA Mass High Tech – 08/16/2012

The next company from Harvard genomics pioneer and serial entrepreneur George Church may involve commercializing a mind-bending type of “big data” storage — on DNA molecules. A team at Harvard including Church has completed an experiment which encoded a book into DNA, and then read the book’s text. The team published the results in Science on Thursday. Link

3) Pfizer’s Experimental Drug Works in Ulcerative Colitis Bloomberg Businessweek – 08/16/2012

Pfizer Inc.’s experimental rheumatoid arthritis pill tofacitinib eased symptoms of patients with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that affects 750,000 Americans, a company-sponsored study showed.  Among 194 adults with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, tofacitinib reduced symptoms such as pain and bleeding in 78 percent of patients given the trial’s highest dose, according to results published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Link

4) FDA approves Sanofi voice-guided auto-injector for allergic reactions Drug Store News – 08/10/2012

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a voice-guided injection device made by Sanofi for severe allergic reactions, the drug maker said Monday. The French drug maker announced the approval of Auvi-Q (epinephrine), calling it the first epinephrine auto-injector with audio and visual cues that guides users through the injection process. Link

5) Researchers discover bacteria-resistant material Mass High Tech – 08/14/2012

Researchers at the University of Nottingham have discovered materials that prevent bacteria from affixing to the surface of medical devices, according to the University of Notthingham. The findings, published in the Nature Biotechnology journal, were the result of a four-year project with MIT researchers, who originally developed the method that enables screening of thousands of novel polymers. Link