Monthly Archives: January 2015

Sequencing facility and shared postdoctoral program to support genetic discovery research to advance development of new treatments

CAMBRIDGE, MA, and NEW YORK, NY (January 9, 2015) -- Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Columbia University Medical Center have formed a $30 million strategic alliance to conduct genetics discovery research on the underlying causes of disease and to identify new treatment approaches. As part of this agreement, a sequencing and analysis facility and shared postdoctoral program will be established at Columbia to support collaborative genetics studies. The agreement will integrate genomics research conducted at Columbia with Biogen Idec's understanding of disease mechanisms and pathways, and expertise in discovering new medicines.

"Our understanding of human genetics is rapidly expanding, and there is growing recognition that the elucidation of the genetic causes of disease will have a transformative effect on both patient care and drug development in many different diseases," said David Goldstein, PhD, founding director of Columbia University's Institute for Genomic Medicine. "This collaboration marries the exceptional drug development expertise of Biogen with cutting-edge genomics expertise at Columbia University Medical Center. It will not only focus on target identification and validation at the early stages of drug development, but also facilitate genetically informed evaluation of treatments."

"Human genetic technologies and analytics have advanced to the point where they are becoming central to the discovery and development of new medicines," said Tim Harris, PhD, DSc, Senior Vice President, Technology and Translational Sciences, Biogen Idec. "We are committed to working with leading institutions such as Columbia to advance basic genetic research and, by combining our unique strengths, accelerating the discovery of potential new treatments."

The collaboration will enable Biogen Idec and Columbia to investigate the genomes of patients showing unusual treatment responses or unique disease presentations and to explore the connections among genes, pathways, and disease processes. The ultimate goal will be to provide multiple qualified targets for new therapeutic approaches, increasing the potential for the development of new treatments.

"This collaboration with Biogen, with its focus on the genetic causes of diseases, fits in perfectly with Columbia's commitment to precision medicine," said Lee Goldman, MD, MPH, Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor of the University and dean of the faculties of health sciences and medicine. "The development of new treatments based on this genetic understanding will have profound effects on clinical practice."

The new facility will have broad genetic research capabilities and the capacity to launch and complete whole-genome sequencing projects rapidly. It will allow for rapid population-scale DNA sequencing across a broad range of disease areas, focusing on diseases with significant unmet clinical need such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Tom Maniatis, PhD, the Isidore S. Edelman Professor of Biochemistry and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center and director of Columbia's university-wide precision medicine initiative, said, "The strong clinical and basic science programs in neurodegenerative diseases at Columbia will significantly benefit from the Columbia/Biogen alliance. We expect that the alliance will dramatically advance our understanding of the genetics of these devastating diseases and ultimately lead to mechanism-based treatments, a key aspect of Columbia's precision-medicine initiative."

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Biogen Idec and Columbia Medical Center to conduct collaborative genetics research

Human tests of Ebola vaccines 'about to begin' in affected countries: WHO

Geneva (AFP) - Human tests of two possible Ebola vaccines have proven safe and now tests to measure their efficiency will begin within weeks in the three west African countries ravaged by the deadly virus, the World Health Organization said Friday.

"These trials are about to begin for the two lead vaccines," WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny told reporters, adding that the vaccines would be tested on tens of thousands of people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Phase III testing to ensure the vaccines actually provide protection against the virus that has killed 8,259 people in the three African countries is set to begin in Liberia by the end of the month, she said.

Separate tests are scheduled to start in Sierra Leone and Guinea in February, she added.

There is no licensed treatment or vaccine for Ebola, and the WHO has endorsed rushing potential ones through trials in a bid to stem the epidemic.

The two potential vaccines that have been undergoing Phase 1 safety tests on humans are ChAd3, made by Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, and VSV-EBOV, manufactured by the Public Health Agency of Canada and developed by Merck.

Tests of the two potential vaccines have been conducted on volunteers in a range of countries, including Switzerland, Mali, Gabon, Britain, Germany, Canada and the United States.

Both have shown to have "an acceptable safety profile," Kieny said, relaying the findings of a high-level meeting of policy makers, researchers, regulators and vaccine developers in Geneva Thursday.

"That is really good news," she said, acknowledging that "the world is waiting for us to get these vaccines ready and out to the people with this virus raging through their communities."

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Human tests of Ebola vaccines 'about to begin' in affected countries: WHO