Dr. James Broach poses in front of the Institute for Personalized Medicine on the Hershey Medical Center campus in Derry Township. Broach and three other scientists gave a presentation on the work of the institute during a Mini Medical School program on Wednesday night. (SUBMITTED) HERSHEY - Imagine going to your doctor and getting a diagnosis from the genetic code that is stored on your cellphone. That may seem like something from a sci-fi movie, but scientists at Penn State's Institute for Personalized Medicine predict this scenario is only a few years in the future. Today, scientists can take blood or tissue samples from a patient and process them so they can read their genetic code. The cost is about $5,000, but in the near future, the cost will drop to $1,000 or less, Dr. Jim Broach, director of the Penn State Institute for Personalized Medicine, told an audience of more than 300 at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center on Wednesday night. The institute opened its doors on the Derry Dr. Glenn Gerhard (SUBMITTED) Broach's talk was part of this year's Mini-Medical School program. Mini-Medical School will continue at the Medical Center on Tuesday evenings through April … Continue reading →

SAN DIEGO, March 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequenom, Inc. (SQNM), a life sciences company providing innovative genetic analysis solutions, today reported total revenues of $33.7 million and $89.7 million for the fourth quarter and full year of 2012, respectively. Net loss was $32.8 million, or $0.29 per share, and $117.1 million, or $1.03 per share, for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively. "It has been a little more than one year since the Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine (SCMM) launched MaterniT21 PLUS, the first non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) in the United States that measures circulating cell-free nucleic acids in maternal blood for the detection of fetal aneuploidies. During 2012, SCMM established itself as the leader in the NIPT field with the good acceptance of MaterniT21 PLUS by the medical community," said Harry Hixson, Jr., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Sequenom. "SCMM and its licensees have also seen rapid acceptance of non-invasive prenatal testing in countries outside the United States." Fourth Quarter 2012 PerformanceTotal revenues for the fourth quarter of 2012 increased to $33.7 million, 117% over revenues of $15.5 million for the comparable period in 2011. Fourth quarter 2012 revenues from the genetic analysis operating segment were essentially flat … Continue reading →

BETHESDA, Md., March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine and genetics professionals from around the world will be on hand to present bicycles to local Phoenix-area children from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) as part of the ACMG's 2013 Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting and Conference in Exhibit Hall BCD of the Phoenix Convention Center, Friday, March 22 at 10 a.m. This is the third annual ACMG Foundation Day of Caring and is sponsored by the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine, a prominent nonprofit genetics foundation based in Bethesda, MD. Phoenix-area MDA Director of Health Care Services Maureen Salloom thanked the Foundation for the gift, "Thank you so much to the ACMG Foundation for providing bicycles to children with neuromuscular diseases. Our families are very grateful for this generous donation, as buying a customized bicycle would not be feasible due to high medical bills and other financial obligations. Without this donation, some children would never have had the experience of riding a bike," she said. "The Association's research, health care services, advocacy and education programs provide help and hope to more than 1 million Americans affected by more than 40 progressive neuromuscular diseases." … Continue reading →

A product of a $30 billion effort to sequence the human genome, the tests until recently have been limited to those wealthy enough to pay up to $10,000. But the tests have dropped to about $1,000. Dr. Art Caplan, a professor of medical ethics at New York University, brought a host of provocative questions raised by the tests and their use in new treatments to Cooper University Medical School in Camden on Tuesday. The inaugural speaker of the Berkowitz Family Foundation Lecture, Caplan dismissed most of the consumer-targeted versions of the genetic tests - those that claim to match diet and lifestyle to personal DNA - as "ethically worrisome" and "nonsense added to ridiculousness." Others, including 23andMe and DeCodeMe, are "more legitimate," he said. Caplan, gregarious with a white mop of hair, also spoke about the developing field of pharmacogenomics, the study of prescribing drugs for patients based on their personal DNA. "It's great, but it's still the early days," Caplan said. Prenatal testing will drive most of the upcoming controversy, Caplan said. "We can now test a mother's blood as soon as six or seven weeks into a pregnancy," he said. "That brings some big moral issues." It's inevitable … Continue reading →

PITTSTON, ME--(Marketwire - Mar 6, 2013) - YaFarm Technologies, Inc. ( PINKSHEETS : YFRM ) (YaFarm, or the Company) announced today that the Integrative Stem Cell Institute (ISCI) has received significant funding for its venture in Cancun, Mexico. The ISCI is a premier provider of cell-based, regenerative medical therapies that utilize a patient's own stem cells for the treatment of neuro-degenerative diseases. Combining a state-of-the-art laboratory and clean room facility with an integrative medical approach to treatment, the ISCI provides therapies as part of controlled clinical studies. The ISCI has partnered with the International Stem Cell Practice (ISCP) to provide patients with access to a global network of physicians to provide pre-treatment evaluation and post-therapy follow up for the independent collection and evaluation of patient outcomes. The investment will be used to complete the construction of the new medical facility housed within Hospital Galenia in Cancun, Mexico. The hospital is accredited by both the Joint Commission (JCI) and the Accreditation Canada (ACI), and is the only hospital in Mexico to have been awarded certification from both of these organizations. "The funding is important," says David Audley, CEO of the ISCI. "The pace of work for both the laboratory facility and … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, March 7, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NeoStem, Inc. (NYSE MKT:NBS) ("NeoStem" or the "Company"), a leader in the fast growing cell therapy market, today announced that, on March 6, 2013, it received approval to continue the PreSERVE AMI Phase 2 clinical trial following its second interim data and safety review by the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB). The PreSERVE trial of AMR-001 is a Phase 2, randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind study designed to treat 160 patients and is approved by the FDA to enroll up to 180 patients. AMR-001 is being evaluated for the prevention of major adverse cardiac events following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Patient enrollment for the PreSERVE trial began in January 2012, and NeoStem anticipates completing enrollment in 2013 with initial data readout six to eight months later. "We are pleased that the second external review of our Phase 2 trial data confirms that there are no safety signals that would preclude the trial from continuing as planned," said Andrew L. Pecora, M.D., FACP, CPE, Chief Medical Officer of NeoStem. "We've learned through our principal investigators that the collection of stem cells and administration of AMR-001 is relatively straightforward for the treatment of patients within … Continue reading →

COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) -- Shares of stem cell therapy developer Osiris Therapeutics Inc. rallied Wednesday after the company reported a jump in revenue from new surgical repair products. Osiris said its product revenue increased more than 280 percent to $3.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, primarily from sales of Grafix, a wound healing implant designed to treat diabetic foot ulcers and other serious injuries. The company has begun promoting the device via a direct sales force in 10 major U.S. cities. Despite increased product sales, the company's revenue from research collaborations and contracts plummeted after the end of an agreement with Sanofi. The company posted just $179,000 from research collaborations in the quarter, compared to $10.3 million in the last quarter of 2011. The company swung to a net loss of $2.6 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a profit of $5 million, or 15 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2011. Osiris' experimental stem cell therapies include Prochymal, which is aimed at treating graft vs. host disease, a side effect of organ or bone marrow transplants. The Columbia, Md., company was developing Prochymal through a partnership with biotechnology company Genzyme. French drugmaker Sanofi … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BIND Biosciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of highly selective targeted and programmable therapeutics called AccurinsTM, today announced presentations at two upcoming scientific conferences: BIND is recognized as a leader in the design and optimization of targeted therapeutics with precisely controlled physicochemical and pharmacological properties, said Jeff Hrkach, Ph.D. Sr. Vice President, Technology, Research and Development of BIND. We look forward to sharing with scientific and medical experts the progress we have made with our proprietary Medicinal Nanoengineering platform which has led to the development of a pipeline of Accurins, including our lead product, BIND-014, currently entering Phase 2 clinical studies in oncology. About Accurins BIND Biosciences is discovering and developing Accurins, proprietary new best-in-class therapeutics with superior target selectivity and the potential to improve patient outcomes. Leveraging its proprietary Medicinal Nanoengineering platform, BIND develops Accurins that outperform conventional drugs by selectively accumulating in diseased tissues and cells. The result is higher drug concentrations at the site of action with minimal off-target exposure, leading to markedly better efficacy and safety. About BIND Biosciences BIND Biosciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of highly selective targeted and programmable therapeutics called AccurinsTM. BINDs … Continue reading →