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Life Tech to Help Unravel Genetic Clues in Quest for Cancer Treatment

A first-of-its-kind study that aims to decode the genetic makeup of an aggressive form of breast cancer will leverage Life Technologies Corp.’s next-generation gene sequencing machine, known as the SOLiD System.

On March 5, Life Tech announced it would join U.S. Oncology Inc. of Texas and Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen, of Arizona to sequence the genomes of 14 women diagnosed with what’s known as “triple-negative” breast cancer. About one in five women with breast cancer develop this aggressive form, which doesn’t respond to targeted therapies like Roche’s Herceptin.

The goal of the study is to determine whether cancerous tumors hold genetic clues for guiding more individualized treatment options. Scientific researchers and cancer doctors plan to use the genetic data for coming up with new potential treatment options.

“Current clinical trials are aimed at showing how one new drug can be safe and effective across hundreds of people,” said Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, an oncologist and physician-in-chief at TGen. “This study flips that concept by using sequencing data from one individual to evaluate which anti-cancer drugs could be most effective based on normal and tumor genetic makeup.”

U.S. Oncology, one of the nation’s largest research networks specializing in cancer trials, will enroll women for the study. TGen aims to lend its cancer genome and oncology programs expertise.

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Slim Votes Impede Pharma Merger: La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co., which has been trying since late last year to amass enough shareholder approval to merge the company with Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp. of Del Mar, has put an end to the fight.

The company said shareholders representing just 13 percent of La Jolla Pharma’s outstanding common stock had returned their proxy cards or indicated they would vote ahead of the shareholder’s meeting. But La Jolla Pharma said it decided to cancel the meeting after the Nasdaq stock market suspended its shares from trading on the exchange.

“We were disappointed we were not able to secure enough votes from our stockholders to close the proposed merger with Adamis, as we believe the merger provided our stockholders with the best opportunity for potential future value,” said La Jolla Pharma CEO Deirdre Gillespie.

She said La Jolla’s board of directors would evaluate any further options available to the company, although she expressed doubt about any action. “Sixty-six million shares held by thousands of small stockholders makes it extremely challenging, if not impossible, to accomplish any transaction that requires a stockholder vote,” she said.

As for Adamis, CEO Dennis Carlo said it will continue to seek other alternatives for moving forward.

“We wish them well,” he said. “While we thought that the proposed transaction would be beneficial for both companies, we believe we have identified alternatives for moving forward.”

Adamis recently launched a low-cost alternative to the EpiPen, made by Dey L.P. of Napa, and has licensed two additional products in the pipeline: an inhaled nasal steroid for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and a metered dose inhaler for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. The company said it plans to launch both products next year.

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Plans to Go Public on Hold: Trius Therapeutics, the San Diego-based biotech developing an antibiotic pill for treating serious bacterial skin infections such as MRSA, postponed plans on March 1 to take the company public.

The delay, the company says, is temporary until it can modify the protocol of a Phase 3 trial to satisfy new FDA guidance. The company didn’t say how long it expects the delay to last. The concerns stem from proper conduct of so-called “non-inferiority” trials, which are used to prove an upcoming drug is no worse in efficacy as an older version.

The company was among the first of many biotechs without a product already on the market to file an initial public offering late last year. Trius had priced its IPO at $96.6 million, according to a regulatory filing.

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Duplicating Human Livers in Mice: Salk Institute for Biological Studies scientist Inder Verma, a professor in the Laboratory of Genetics, impressed the crowd at an innovation summit earlier this month when he demonstrated how his lab was able to grow nearly human livers in mice for testing various drugs, such as hepatitis treatments.

A few audible gasps from the audience came as Verma displayed how one such gene therapy method appeared to cure mice of Alzheimer’s-like symptoms. “We now have the ability to link any protein we want, introduce it and be able to cross the blood brain barrier,” he told an audience gathered at the second annual La Jolla Research and Innovation Summit on March 3.

During the speech, Verma revealed that he had started an early stage company based on the research, called Neurotransit and based at Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

The company will focus on studying treatments for brain diseases.

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