bluebird bio Announces Global Strategic Collaboration with Celgene to Advance Gene Therapy in Oncology

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

bluebird bio, a privately-held biotechnology company focused on gene therapy, today announced the formation of a broad, global strategic collaboration with Celgene Corporation to discover, develop and commercialize novel disease-altering gene therapies in oncology. The collaboration will focus on applying gene therapy technology to genetically modify a patients own T-cells, known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells, to target and destroy cancer cells. The multi-year research and development collaboration has the potential to lead to the development and commercialization of multiple CAR T-cell products. Celgene has an option to license any products resulting from the collaboration after the completion of a Phase 1 clinical study for each such product. bluebird bio will be responsible for research and development activity through Phase 1 studies.

Additionally, Celgene has also entered into a separate strategic collaboration in the CAR T-cell field with the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Childrens Hospital and The Methodist Hospital, Houston, led by Malcolm Brenner, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and the director, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy. bluebird bio, Celgene and Dr. Brenners team will work collaboratively to advance and develop existing and new products and programs in the CAR T-cell field.

The genetic manipulation of autologous T-cells is a new frontier in oncology, one that shows early promise in emerging clinical trials, said Tom Daniel, president, research & early development at Celgene. We see strong prospects for this collaboration between Celgene, bluebird bio and Baylor College of Medicines experienced leaders in this emerging field, led by Dr. Brenner, to advance this innovative approach to intractable problems in oncology.

We believe that our recent advances in the industrialization of our gene therapy platform will drive improvements in the potency, purity, efficiency and scalability of our lentiviral gene therapy programs. These advances provide us with an opportunity to apply our platform, intellectual property and know-how to the development of additional product candidates in indications such as CAR T-cells for cancer, stated Nick Leschly, CEO of bluebird bio. Celgene is a global leader in oncology and, combined with Baylors expertise in the CAR T-cell field, we have created a great opportunity to drive innovation in a new and exciting area.

Financial terms of the agreement include an upfront payment and up to $225 million per product in potential option fees and clinical and regulatory milestones. bluebird bio also has the right to participate in the development and commercialization of any licensed products resulting from the collaboration through a 50/50 co-development and profit share in the United States in exchange for a reduction of milestones. Royalties would also be paid in regions where there is no profit share including in the United States if bluebird bio declines to exercise their co-development and profit sharing rights.

The gene therapy products currently in clinical development at bluebird bio for the treatment of childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease are independent of this collaboration.

Cowen and Company contributed as a strategic advisor to bluebird bio on this transaction.

About CAR T-Cell Therapy

CAR T-cell therapy represents a promising, emerging approach to treating cancer. Blood is withdrawn from a patient and the T-cells are then extracted from a patient's blood. These cells are then genetically modified to recognize and attack cancer cells and then re-introduced into the patient's blood. The patients genetically modified cells are intended to bind to and kill the target cancer cells.

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bluebird bio Announces Global Strategic Collaboration with Celgene to Advance Gene Therapy in Oncology

Smoke Down Prohibition III Rally By The Liberty Bell: Philadelphia Freedom In Action! – Video

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Smoke Down Prohibition III Rally By The Liberty Bell: Philadelphia Freedom In Action!
http://www.gofundme.com/2atmdg?pc=fb_cr Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, Cradle of Liberty, What better place in the world to "Proclaim Liberty Thro...

By: Les Stark

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Smoke Down Prohibition III Rally By The Liberty Bell: Philadelphia Freedom In Action! - Video

Freedom Treatment Center Offers New Aftercare in Addiction Treatment

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Freedom Treatment Center is a Southern Michigan drug and alcohol addiction recovery facility with personalized programs to help people achieve and maintain sobriety. Freedom Treatment Center knows a crucial point for those in recovery is what happens after people leave the facility and stresses the importance of aftercare in addiction treatment.

Albion, MI (PRWEB) March 21, 2013

We believe aftercare is as important as the initial addiction treatment, said Freedom Treatment Center representative Brian Kuehne. We want to make sure that each student at Freedom Treatment Center remains sober and committed to their new lifestyle after they exit our program.

An effective aftercare program will include three areas that need to be addressed to achieve success. Students must be able to successfully face the substance, have a concrete plan of action and have a support network made up of family and friends. Freedom Treatment Center helps to ensure those three areas are addressed before students even leave the facility.

Successfully facing the substance comes from being exposed to the threat, while still in the safety of the facility, and learning to diminish its power. A concrete plan of action, which can be established with the help of a counselor, sets up clear-cut goals and steps on achieving those goals. An outside support network of family and friends helps by providing a listening ear, a safe environment and other support those in recovery may especially need during those first tentative weeks after leaving a treatment facility.

The window of greatest vulnerability for relapse after treatment is the first 30 to 90 days following discharge, according to The Addiction Project, a series of HBO productions created in conjunction with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Addiction Project backs up Freedom Treatment Center's belief that an aftercare program is an essential element in any recovery program.

Located in a semi-residential pocket of Southern Michigan, Freedom Treatment Center provides the soothing and safe environment and assistance so vital for helping people overcome drug and alcohol addiction. Treatment begins with a natural detoxification and continues with counseling, education and lifestyle changes that help ensure an ongoing and successful recovery.

Nick Thiel Freedom Drug Rehab (877) 210-5311 Email Information

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Freedom Treatment Center Offers New Aftercare in Addiction Treatment

Freedom Overlooked

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TGIF: Freedom Overlooked

by Sheldon Richman

The idea of freedom counts for little in public discourse. It may come up now and then, only to be quickly shoved to the rear as something quaintly outmoded if not suggestive of paranoia.

Examples abound, and this week saw its share. The first that comes to mind is New York City Mayor Bloombergs legal setback in his attempt to prohibit restaurants from serving sodas in containers bigger than 16 ounces. A judge struck down the mayors decree as arbitrary and capricious, but much of the discussion on television news programs focused not on freedom but rather on health or pragmatic concerns: Would the ban really help combat obesity? How big a role does soda play in that problem? Would the ban help bring down the cost of medical care?

Anyone who argued that Bloombergs rule is out of bounds because it forbids a certain kind of peaceful exchange between restaurants and patrons, and that government has no moral right to interfere with voluntary exchange, would likely have been dismissed as weirdly out of touch. After all, Bloomberg has addressed the issue of freedom, hasnt he? Hes said repeatedly that his rule would violate no ones freedom because you may have your 16-ounce cup refilled as many times as you wish. All his rule would do is remind us of the health implications of drinking too much soda.

Of course, that is not all his rule would do. It would, in fact, outlaw a certain class of transactions. Its not a reminder; its a prohibition. But if you insisted on this point during the typical media discussion, you probably wouldnt be asked back the next time the issue came up. Yet its a legitimate question: Granting all the good motives in the world, how dare anyone propose that people be forced in this way?

The other example relates to the poor and was prompted by the selection of the pope. In much of the media discussion about the election at the Vatican, pundits equated concern for the poor with an embrace of government programs allegedly aimed at alleviating poverty. If you care about the poor, so goes the argument, you must favor government antipoverty programs. Contrariwise, if you oppose the programs, you are indifferent to poverty and misery.

What is remarkable is that this link is never thought to need justification. Just how does one get from We have a moral obligation to the poor to Government should force people to help the poor? Whatever one thinks of the declared moral obligation, additional argument is required to get from it to an enforceable legal obligation. Lets not forget that if someone refuses to pay taxes and announces that he will help the poor through voluntary activity, he could be imprisoned and even killed, were he to resist the states efforts to seize his money for its charitable works. Why is the freedom to help the poor privately or to abstain from helping at all not recognized as an individual right? Do those who preach the moral obligation to help the poor believe that it is proper to lock people in cages merely for choosing to discharge this obligation in their own way outside of government channels? Does the moral code that implores us to be our brothers keeper not also condemn violence? Is there no connection between compassion for the indigent and abhorrence of brutality?

Why is the neglect and even dismissal of freedom so common? Because freedom, if thought of at all, is regarded as just one of many considerations to be taken into account when judging public policy. Worse, for many people, freedom is easily outweighed by other things, such as health and the needs of others. The refusal to see freedom as just one of many competing values is regarded in many circles as a sign of immaturity or extremism. If you insist that freedom imposes constraints on our actions towards others, and if you extend this principle to government officials, you are apt to be viewed as an oddity. The maxim that each human being is an end in himself or herself, and not merely a means to the ends of others, carries little weight, despite the occasional lip service.

People who worry about obesity are free to contribute to campaigns designed to persuade us to drink less soda. Why do they turn to physical force instead? Similarly, people who want to help the poor are free to contribute their time and money to that cause and to urge others to do so. Why do they call for force? If they say private efforts are insufficient and therefore force is required, I remind them that the end does not justify the means.

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Freedom Overlooked

Freedom basketball coach earns top honor

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by Kyle Szymanski Thepress.Net

Freedom boys basketball coach Drew Torres receives the Bay Valley Athletic League Winter Boys Coach of the Year award from Freedom Athletic Director Steve Amaro during the schools recent winter sports awards.

Torres was named the Bay Valley Athletic League Winter Boys Coach of the Year. I was in shock, Torres said after receiving the award. I came in getting my certificates together, but I was caught off guard. It feels great.

Torres led the Falcons to their most successful season in school history this year. Finishing second behind Deer Valley in the BVAL standings with a record of 20-10 and 8-2 in league play, Freedom advanced to the North Coast Section semifinals before losing to San Leandro 55-53. The team also made an impressive run in the state tournament before losing to Deer Valley 83-69 in the regional quarterfinals.

While Torres leadership during games was instrumental in Freedoms success, he also made an impression off the court. Freedom Athletic Director Steve Amaro said during a recent practice that he found Torres had provided a complete meal for the team. This award couldnt have been given to a better coach. He treats his players like family, and that is wonderful.

Senior forward Ramiro Contreras believes Torress dedication to the team speaks for itself. If you knew coach Torres, he said, youd know he has a passion for the game and a passion for coaching.

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Freedom basketball coach earns top honor

Cris Cyborg Asked for Ronda Rousey in Strikeforce, Was Told "She’s Not Ready"

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The rivalry between former Strikeforce women's champion Cris "Cyborg" Santos and current UFC bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey doesn't seem to slow down despite the fact that they are in two different organizations with little hope of facing one another in at least the next year.

Still, it's hard to ignore that fire that burns between the two women as rarely can one of them go a single interview without the other's name coming up.

As Cyborg prepares for her debut in Invicta FC following more than a year away from the sport after testing positive for a banned substance in 2011, she's lasered in on the task at hand of getting her career back on track. That doesn't mean, however, that the desire to destroy Rousey is ever far from her mind.

The history between Cyborg and Rousey goes back to November 2011 when the former Olympic Judo medalist defeated Julia Budd at a Strikeforce Challengers show while competing at 145 pounds. At the time, Rousey said she was ready to drop down to bantamweight and challenge champion Miesha Tate, but Cyborg was already looking at her as a potential opponent at featherweight.

Following her win over Hiroko Yamanaka in Strikeforce almost exactly a month later, Cyborg reveals that she asked to face Rousey, but didn't get the answer she was expecting.

"I don't want to talk trash about somebody, I want to prove it inside the cage. When she was in my weight class she said 'I want to fight Cris Cyborg' and when I had my last fight against Hiroko (Yamanaka) I talked to Sean Shelby, the matchmaker at Strikeforce, and I said 'I want Ronda next.' He said 'no, she's not ready for you' and after that fight she's talking bad about me but you guys protected her," Santos revealed in an interview with Bleacher Report

"Because after my fight I told them I want to fight her and they said no she's not ready for you."

In Cyborg's opinion, Rousey was being protected and continues to live under the same shield of protection right now. The Brazilian isn't sure why a fighter that competed in the Olympics at 154 pounds, then fought MMA at 145 pounds, insists that it's Santos who drops down to bantamweight for their fight to finally happen.

"She fought at 154 (pounds) in Judo, and I think who is running? It's not me. I fight at 145, she fought at 145, who's running from this fight? Not me," said Cyborg. "People need to see the fact to see who's running."

Currently, Cyborg is about to embark on the first of a three-fight deal with Invicta FC with the goal being to win her fight next weekend and then move onto a featherweight title fight against fellow former Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen.

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Cris Cyborg Asked for Ronda Rousey in Strikeforce, Was Told "She's Not Ready"

Sindhudurg beaches beckon nature lovers

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After the recent turtle festival in Ratnagiri, theres another one in the offing.

For the first time, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has planned a turtle (Olive Ridley) festival in Sindhudurg.

Olive Ridley turtles are scheduled I endangered species, the same as tigers.

The festival, in 12 beaches in Sindhudurg, aims to promote turtle tourism and conservation. Earlier, the locals of Sindhudurg used to eat turtle eggs but now they have joined the conservation drive.

We have organised a turtle festival at Mochemad beach in Vengurla taluka of Sindhudurg between March 22 and 24, said an official with UNDP-GEF (Global Environment Facility), Government of India project.

With an intention of creating new opportunities for the villages that take part in the conservation programme, SNM has announced this festival. SNM has conducted hospitality training for the local people who will host the tourists in their own houses, said Bhau Katdare of SNM.

This festival also gives an opportunity to tourists to know more about the local life, exchange ideas and create a bonding with the nature conservation programme.

Integrating hospitality at the village level also helps in conservation. The locals realised that turtle tourism helps in giving them earnings and have saving the eggs and nests, instead of eating them.

This year, a total of 305 hatchlings have been released into the sea from five nests. Hatchlings from19 more nests are left to be released.

Till now, the conservation of Olive Ridleys nestlings was happening in isolation, but this is the first year that the focus is on saving nests at 12 beaches of Sindhudurg.

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Sindhudurg beaches beckon nature lovers

Kauai officials close all north beaches due to surf

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Kauai officials have closed all north-facing beaches, including Anahola, due to high surf conditions.

Ocean Safety officials report hazardous ocean conditions with waves over 20-feet-high.

The National Weather Service has issued a high surf warning for the north and west facing shores that will remain in effect until at least 6 a.m. Friday. The warning calls for very strong shore breaks and dangerous rip currents, which make entering the water very hazardous. The National Weather Service warns that anyone entering the water in these areas is risking significant injury or death.

Lifeguards will remain at the beach towers throughout the day to notify beachgoers of the closure.

The beaches will reopen as officials deem them safe for swimming.

For up-to-date information about ocean conditions, please speak to a county lifeguard, log onto http://www.kauaiexplorer.com, or call the Ocean Safety Bureau at 241-4984.

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Kauai officials close all north beaches due to surf

Scores of dead fish on our beaches

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Thousands of dead fish have washed up along the foreshore at Moana Beach. Source: adelaidenow

THOUSANDS of dead fish found washed up on Adelaide's southern beaches this morning may have been dead for some time.

Southern suburbs residents have reported the small fish, about two inches in length, across long stretches of sand at Moana, Moana South, O'Sullivans Beach and Christies Beach.

Biosecurity SA is investigating the cause of the deaths but the incident is likely to have been caused by heat.

Seaford Rise resident Phyl Gava said the stretch of beach affected runs from Moana to Maslin Beach.

It's not known why scores of fish have ended up dead on Adelaide's southern beaches.

Ms Gava, who has been walking the beach for over 17 years, said she has never seen anything like this.

Biosecurity SA said the cause of the death is likely to be heat, as was the case with similar incidents on the Eyre Peninsula earlier this month.

Dead fish litter the foreshore at Moana Beach. Picture: Roger Wyman

Spokesman Ken Pearce said many of the fish, mainly leatherjackets, are already partially decomposed.

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Scores of dead fish on our beaches

Blitz on out-of-control dogs on beaches

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Holdfast Bay Council is conducting a two week blitz on dog owners doing the wrong thing at the beach. Picture: Helen Orr Source: adelaidenow

A BLITZ targeting owners of out-of-control dogs using Glenelg, Brighton, Somerton Park and Hove beaches will start tomorrow.

Council officers will target all Holdfast Bay beaches, targeting dog owners who have dogs off the leash outside prescribed times or who do not clean up after their pets, until April 6.

Holdfast Bay chief executive Justin Lynch said the crackdown was prompted by an outpouring of anxiety from residents about out-of-control dogs on its beaches this summer.

"The council always takes very seriously any public safety concern related to dog control and has multiple dog control initiatives in place at all times," Mr Lynch said.

"But given the strong feedback from our community this summer, it's time to send irresponsible dog owners an even clearer message to clean up your act or pay the penalty.

"It will be a matter of less talk, more fines."

Dog owners caught doing the wrong thing during the blitz, which starts tomorrow (March 23) and ends on April 6, will automatically attract an $80 fine, he said.

"Stern warnings will also be issued to dog owners whose dogs are not within close proximity of verbal commands," Mr Lynch said.

Dogs are allowed to be off-leash at Holdfast Bay beaches between 8pm and 10am during the daylight saving months as long as they are still "under effective control".

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Blitz on out-of-control dogs on beaches

Astronomy : Star tracker

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MARK GARLICK

The technology was a complete joy, says Andrea Ghez, thinking back to the mid-1980s and her first time helping out at an observatory. She wanted to learn everything. How to open the dome! How to fill the instrument with liquid nitrogen! Develop the plates! Reduce the data! Coding!

And then there was the science. Ghez did not know much at the start; she was majoring in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, working for an astronomer as her undergraduate research experience. But as she learned more about his research into unusual cosmic sources of X-rays, Ghez became enthralled by the thought that some of those sources might be black holes singular points with a gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape them. It got me completely fascinated by black holes, she says. By the time she had spent two undergraduate summers working at telescopes in Arizona and Chile, Ghez was hooked. I fell in love with the whole profession.

Now an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles, she still feels the same. Her fascination with black holes has led her into a pioneering, decades-long study that has proved the existence of the biggest black hole in our cosmic neighbourhood: the 4.1-million-solar-mass behemoth that lies at the centre of the Milky Way1, 2 (see 'The monster in the middle'). This work earned her a MacArthur 'genius' award in 2008, and half of the Crafoord prize, astronomy's Nobel, in 2012.

Ghez's love of technology helps to explain why her quest has been so fruitful. Most astronomers use only the tools they know, but Ghez is an enthusiastic early adopter first in line to try out cutting-edge detectors and optical techniques that are barely out of the laboratory. I like the risk of a new technology, she says. Maybe it won't work. But maybe it will open a fresh window on the Universe, answering questions you didn't even know to ask, she says. Any time you look, you're astounded!

Reinhard Genzel, a director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany the co-winner of the 2012 Crafoord prize and Ghez's sharpest competitor on the Galactic Centre work puts it very simply. Andrea, he says, is one of a rare adventurous class.

Ghez's devotion to her work would make her seem fierce if she weren't always smiling, and her sentences didn't keep exploding into verbal capitals. As it is, with her barely controlled curls, straight-across eyebrows and direct gaze, she conveys a cheerful intensity. She doesn't digress when she talks; she focuses. And she has always had a certain determination.

According to Ghez family legend, when 4-year-old Andrea watched the first Apollo Moon landing with her parents in Chicago, Illinois, on 20 July 1969, she announced that she, too, was going to the Moon as an astronaut. True, she also wanted to be a ballerina. But while attending the progressive University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, she says, she became really clear that she loved mathematics and science. That passion took her to MIT in 1983 and then, after her epiphany in the observatory domes, to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena for graduate studies in astronomy.

Caltech, Ghez explains, had the best toys by far. Among them was the 5-metre Hale Telescope, then one of the world's largest, on California's Palomar Mountain. But the toy that particularly captured Ghez's interest was an experimental speckle imager, an instrument intended to get around astronomers' eternal problem with air. Earth's atmosphere is transparent but turbulent a collection of bubbling 'cells' that are warmer here, cooler there, and constantly moving. Looking at the sky through all that is like looking at pebbles on the bottom of a rippling stream: the light coming into the telescope flickers, dances and fragments, smearing the point-like image of each star into a fuzzy ball.

Speckle imaging freezes the dancing images in place with a camera that captures very short exposures every few milliseconds, taking maybe 10,000 or more shots in total. The result is a sequence of very faint images in which the distorted light from each star produces a scattering of spots: the speckles. Computer processing recombines the speckles into one spot per star. Then all the exposures can be aligned and stacked to produce a final image with the worst of the atmospheric smearing removed.

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Astronomy : Star tracker