san francisco chronicle news from FierceBiotech

After four years of litigation and detailed planning, the first $271 million in facilities grants is just about ready to be doled out by the Read more...

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the FDA is prepared to back a new safety standard on preclinical drugs that could--at some point--significantly reduce the time and expense of testing a Read more...

California's stem cell institute says the property management company that promised to underwrite all their office operating costs in San Francisco appears to be reneging on the deal, and they're Read more...

The San Francisco Chronicle takes a hard look at the new baldness therapies in the pipeline, concentrating much of its attention on Follica, which is focusing on microdermabrasion to remove an outer Read more...

Look alive, small biotech. Pfizer is looking to the little guys to save its skin as it faces dwindling profits and competition from generics in the coming years. Recently, Pfizer announced that it Read more...

Is generic competition good for the biotech and pharma industries? An article from The San Francisco Chronicle argues that as aging drugs go off patent, companies are forced to push Read more...

The FDA's Microarray Quality Control project has delivered a badly needed endorsement of the microarray technologies out on the market. Spurred by studies that suggested varying results among the different microarrays on the market, the FDA set out to determine how accurate they were in delivering results. Microarrays have played an enormous role in identifying a new generation of drug leads, helping spur the development of the biotech industry. The agency found that the microarrays …

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Sirna Therapeutics posted positive data from an early stage trial of its experimental therapy for macular degeneration. Sirna-027 demonstrated its ability to ward off loss of vision in 24 of 26 patients with wet, age-related macular degeneration. Sirna has been focused on developing a therapy using RNAi technology, which stops cells from making proteins that--in this case--damage the eye. In this case the therapy is intended to prevent the development of blood vessels in the retina. Sirna …

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In the wake of President Bush's stem cell funding veto, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has authorized a $150 million loan to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, an agency that aims to spend $3 billion on stem cell development in the next decade. In 2004 Californians passed Proposition 71, a research funding bill that positioned the state to become a leader in the stem cell research. But despite popular support for the Institute, funding has yet to take off because of legal …

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A study released by the Union of Concerned Scientists has found that about 15 percent of FDA staffers polled say they've been "asked to… inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or conclusions in an FDA scientific document." In addition, 39 percent of respondents stated that the FDA wasn't "acting effectively to protect public health." The questionnaire was sent to almost 6,000 FDA workers and 997 responded.

The survey underscores critics concerns that the …

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