Adnavance: Better genetic diagnostics through electricity
(NOTE: This item originally appeared in today’s daily briefing. It’s been expanded and rewritten here.)
DNA-based diagnostics face a fundamental, though hardly insuperable, obstacle: When you’re looking for a rare mutation or other identifying sequence of DNA “letters” (technically known as bases or nucleotides), there are rarely enough matching DNA molecules in your average blood or tissue sample for today’s technology to detect. So many such tests first require technicians to “amplify” DNA in the sample, usually… Continue Reading
Celator: Combining chemo drugs for fun and profit
(UPDATED: See below.)
Is there a better way to combine drugs in cancer chemotherapy? Celator Pharmaceuticals, a Princeton, N.J., venture drug maker that just raised $10 million, aims to find out.
Like Horizon Therapeutics, which we wrote about here, Celator is convinced that combining two existing drugs in a single formulation at the right proportions can yield better results than current treatments. Although many chemo drugs are already used in combination, the drugs that can be used this… Continue Reading