HAL Allergy research to yield anti-allergy vaccines for peanut allergy

In August 2010 a young German tourist in the Netherlands died after eating a “saté croquette”, a food whose ingredients contain a strong concentration of peanuts. According to the Dutch daily “de Telegraaf” and the regional news site “WebRegio.nl”, the 25-year old women most likely suffered from a peanut allergy. In America alone, 1.7 million people suffer from this allergy, and 100 to 150 people per year die after eating peanuts.
Peanut allergy is one of the most threatening food allergies because of the severity of the associated reactions, and its persistent character.

Biotech company Pharming Group NV (“Pharming” or “the Company”) (NYSE Euronext: PHARM) announced that it intends to submit the Biologic License Application (BLA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to obtain marketing approval for Rhucin® for the treatment of acute angioedema attacks in patients with Hereditary Angioedema (HAE). Following pre-BLA discussions with the FDA, Pharming is preparing the BLA dossier for submission towards the end of this year but no later than January 2011.

ProFibrix B.V., a leader in the development of innovative products based on the blood clotting protein fibrinogen presents the first Phase II data for its lead product Fibrocaps™.

The entrepreneurial society of the Leiden Bio Science Park (OV BSP) is happy to announce that a shuttle bus will be driving between Leiden Central station and the back end of the Leiden Bio Science Park.
Click on the attachment for the flyer showing its route and bus stops (in Dutch).

As from 2010 the Life Sciences Capitals congress will be known as the ‘Dutch Life Sciences & Health Conference’. In collaboration with the Dutch stakeholders, the objective of the conference is now in line with the Dutch Life Sciences & Health programme (www.lifescienceshealth.com) aimed at improving the life sciences innovation and investment climate in the Netherlands.

Biotech company Pharming Group NV (“Pharming” or “the Company”) (NYSE Euronext: PHARM) announced that the Board of Supervisory Directors (BOSD) has nominated Dr Karl Keegan for appointment as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and member of the Board of Management of Pharming.

BAC BV, the leading provider of antibody-based affinity purification technology, announced that it has entered into a licence agreement with Octapharma ( Lachen , Switzerland ), an independent, global provider of human proteins for life-threatening diseases.

Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell N.V. announced its intention to participate in an international Phase I clinical trial in the United States and Africa of a combination of two AdVac®-based AIDS vaccine candidates, Ad26.ENVA.01 and Ad35-ENV, in healthy adults who are not infected with HIV.

BioClinica™, Inc., (NASDAQ: BIOC), a global provider of clinical trial management services, announced it has created strategic partnerships with two privately held clinical research organizations (CROs), Axio Research Corporation and Beardsworth Consulting Group, Inc.

Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced that it has acquired from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) the full rights to GLPG0634, a small molecule drug previously part of the Company’s arthritis alliance with GSK.
Galapagos is initiating a Phase I clinical trial with this selective JAK inhibitor.

On November 25th this year the fourth edition of Lab Career Event is organized. This career and educational event for lab technicians will take place in ‘t Veerhuis in Nieuwegein.
Centocor, located on the Leiden Bio Science Park, is the main sponsor of Lab Career Event 2010.

You've put in the research, now reap the rewards. Start your company today with the Life Sciences Pre-Seed Grant!
The sixth round of the Life Sciences Pre-Seed Grant, is now open for submissions. All Life Sciences researchers thinking about starting up a company are invited to submit an application.
Submission deadline: 5 October 2010, 15:00 hrs

TI Pharma's Annual Report 2009 is available as interactive reader. In this report you will find information on our Mid-term Review, including the committees recommendation to continue TI Pharma, our new projects, the workshops and events we organized in 2009, the TI Pharma Education & Training program and the annual accounts.
For a print version click here.

New entrance markers were placed at the Leiden Bio Science Park. The entrance markers are a collaboration of the Association of entrepreneurs of the Leiden Bio Science Park (OV BSP), the city of Leiden and the Leiden Bio Science Park foundation.

Biotech company Pharming Group NV (“Pharming”) (NYSE Euronext: PHARM) announced that, following the settlement agreement of May 2010 with the former DNage shareholders, which agreement initiated the spin-off of DNage, the spin-off has now become definitive.

The 21st of October, the LUMC PhD Association (VAO) in collaboration with the LUMC Graduate School Committee, organizes a sociable and informative day for all the PhD-candidates associated with the LUMC. This day will focus on improving employability, social interactions and additionally, it provides an opportunity for the PhD-candidate to explore their future career moves.
As these PhD-candidates have medical, pharmacological and biological study backgrounds, we feel these PhD-candidates could be part of your future pool of vacancies. Therefore, we would like to offer all Bioscience Park companies a means to get in touch with this pool of enthusiastic and talented future job seekers.

Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) and the University of Bristol announced a new drug discovery collaboration aimed at developing treatments for chronic pain associated with diabetes (diabetic neuropathic pain).

In the first half of 2010, the first two Orphan Designation Dossier (ODD)-support grants have been awarded to two small yet promising Dutch bio-pharmaceutical companies: DNage and to-BBB technologies. The ODD-support scheme is an initiative of the Dutch Steering Committee on Orphan Drugs and is executed by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research & Development (ZonMw).