Industry news

Japanese researchers study carbon nanotubes with drug delivery applications

Varun Saxena / Fierce Drug Delivery

Researchers across the world are scrambling to invent new technologies made out of graphene, perfectly flat sheets of carbon atoms that are only one atom thick. For instance, South Korea's Samsung is developing foldable screens made out of graphene, while the European Union is devoting €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to study the potential material of the future, which is a truly 2-D material, with no dangling bonds to bind with surfaces above or below it.

The top companies in med tech: 2014 revenue results

Stacy Lawrence / Fierce Medical Devices

Big med tech companies come in three types: med tech pure-plays; major conglomerates that include non-healthcare businesses; and mixed drug/device players. All three of these groups have been making big moves to transform themselves this year.

NIH Makes Initial Revisions to Guidelines for Genomic Data Analysis in the Cloud

GenomeWeb

The National Institutes of Health issued a position statement this week revising its existing polices on use of cloud computing services for storing and analyzing controlled access data stored in the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGAP).

Online tools and resources available to help states use health IT to improve health care quality and lower cost

U.S. National Institute of Health

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced today the availability of online tools and resources designed to help states participating in the State Innovation Models initiative improve health care quality and lower costs.

Index Ventures banks €650M for its new tech fund

John Carroll / FierceBiotech

Index Ventures now has 650 million more euros to invest. The venture group, which has two big teams active on both sides of the Atlantic in life sciences as well as tech, filed documents with the SEC noting that its new Index Ventures Growth III--domiciled in Jersey--is fully sold.

Malaysia at unexpected center of vaccine meetings that highlight regional focus

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

Two gatherings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this week, although held separately, came close, but not quite, to bringing together the twin issues of vaccines and the practice of halal by Muslims who comprise a third of Asia's population. Apparently, neither of the two primary gatherings had the concerns of the other on its agenda.

India likely to extend price caps to more HIV, TB meds: Reuters

Tracy Staton / Fierce Pharma

After stirring up protest by expanding its list of drugs subject to price caps late last year, India is considering adding more to the list. This time, health officials are likely to add more drugs that treat HIV and tuberculosis, Reuters reports.

Watch out, pharma. Fitch says the M&A party could come with a hangover

Tracy Staton / Fierce Pharma

Biopharma has been on a bona fide dealmaking binge. Trouble is, that binge is starting to get too expensive--and too risky. That's what Fitch Ratings says in a new report that cautions against fast-and-loose dealmaking.

Sharing deeply of ourselves: Still messy

Michael Fitzhugh / BioWorld

In the capital of digital sharing and over-sharing, Silicon Valley, contributing one’s whole genome to science in the name of fun and self-knowledge has never felt that controversial. Engineers share software code liberally every day on sites like GitHub and Bitbucket. Plenty of those same coders and their investors gleefully joined 23andMe spit parties back in the heady days before the Federal Trade Commission jumped in with a call to sanity.

VC heavyweights back a $150M NYC biotech fund with Lilly and Celgene in tow

Damian Garde / Fierce Biotech

New York City's nascent biotech investment fund is ready to get rolling, recruiting some venture capital partners to join Eli Lilly ($LLY), Celgene ($CELG) and GE Ventures ($GE) with hopes of pouring $150 million into the local life sciences startup scene.