Spotlight On... Kite teams with GE in bid to lower T cell production costs through automation; Complete Genomics axes 186 staff; FDA reviews NGS alignment algorithm; and more...

Kite Pharma ($KITE) has teamed up with GE Global Research ($GE) to develop an automated production system for engineered T cell therapies. The development of such a system could help Kite control the cost of manufacturing its closely-watched autologous immuno-oncology drugs. Dendreon, a pioneer in autologous cancer treatment, was dogged by high manufacturing costs throughout its attempt to make its cancer vaccine Provenge a success. Release

> Complete Genomics revealed its reorganization will result in the loss of 186 jobs. Piece (reg. req.)

> FDA scientists reviewed an algorithm designed to align NGS data to reference genomes. Article

> Parexel ($PRXL) introduced a Impact Express, a CTMS pitched at small to mid-sized drug developers. Item

> Korean CRO C&R Research adopted Medidata Clinical Cloud. Release

> Innovate UK awarded Analytics Engines and Almac a grant to develop a bioinformatics platform. More

> FactBio set up shop to develop its Kusp knowledge management platform. News

> Veeva Systems unveiled software to support the identification of key opinion leaders. Post | More