NCBiotech News

Vast Therapeutics is celebrating the new year with Series A funding in excess of $15 million from Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (TYO: 4507) of Japan and a $300,000 award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

bluebird bio, a gene therapy company with operations in Durham, has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Inhibrx of La Jolla, Calif., to research, develop and commercialize cancer immunotherapies.

Aerie Pharmaceuticals, an ophthalmic pharmaceutical company based in Durham, has reported positive results from a pilot Phase 2 study of an eye drop intended to reduce high intraocular pressure (IOP), a cause of glaucoma.

Traditional seed breeding methods are slow and expensive. But technology can speed up the process of breeding hardier plants at lower cost, according to Hi Fidelity Genetics, a Durham-based crop breeding company using artificial intelligence to improve seed genetics that recently closed an $8.5 million Series A round of financing.

A potential drug for helping cancer patients withstand the side effects of chemotherapy showed positive results in a recent Phase 2 clinical trial involving small cell lung cancer, according to its developer, G1 Therapeutics of Research Triangle Park.

The three-cornered Research Triangle is also among America’s top-three places to start a business. That’s the conclusion of the newly published winter 2018 edition of Inc. magazine, on newsstands now.

Criticality, a budding hemp processing company in the small northeastern North Carolina farming town of Hobgood, in Halifax County, is converting a tobacco-buying facility in Wilson to bring the techniques of Good Manufacturing Practice to the state’s newly expanding CBD industry, to minimize or eliminate instances of contamination, mix-ups, and errors.

RedHill Biopharma, an Israeli company with U.S. headquarters and commercial operations in Raleigh, has closed on a $20 million public offering to fund the commercial launch of its gastrointestinal drug, Talicia. That will mean new jobs in the Raleigh area.

Circassia Pharmaceuticals, a British company with U.S. headquarters in Morrisville, plans to acquire the full U.S. commercial rights to Tudorza, a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from British drug-maker AstraZeneca by the end of this month.

Due to the continuation of inclement weather, the NC Biotechnology Center RTP locatiion is closed for the remainder of the day,  Monday, December 10, 2018. 

Because of winter weather, NCBiotech offices have adjusted hours as follows:

• RTP's office will open at noon on Monday, December 10, 2018.
• Piedmont Triad office is closed Monday and Tuesday, working remotely.

Check back for additional updates.

Facility Logix, a Maryland-based consulting firm that helps bioscience companies with lab and biomanufacturing facilities, has opened a North Carolina office and hired a project manager to run it.

Bristol Myers Squibb is the latest pharmaceutical heavyweight to enter a strategic partnership with Chapel Hill’s TARGET PharmaSolutions to study a major disease.

Loans from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center totaling $1 million will help three bioscience companies develop novel products for better human health.

Research Triangle Park-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company G1 Therapeutics has reported more positive results for its investigational oncology drug, trilaciclib.