Hints and tips:
...If everybody with a negative result wanted to confirm their status by taking a PCR test, it could end up putting further strain on the system....
...The medical conglomerate owns Cepheid, a company in California that makes molecular diagnostic tests and equipment....
...Mr Kulkarni said the sector would become more like “Apple v Samsung”, where biotechs competed on adding generation after generation of features....
...AstraZeneca Plc has made a preliminary approach to rival drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. about a potential merger, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be the biggest health-care deal...
...In June, Roche announced that it was acquiring the outstanding shares it did not already own in Foundation Medicine, a company with a focus on using genomic profiling to identify the molecular alterations...
...“More and more I think we’ll be defining tumours in a [molecular] way.” Molecular testing is already commonplace in cancers such as lung and breast, where doctors identify each mutation in turn....
...Scientific data increasingly suggests the drugs will be more effective in those patients with certain molecular traits or “biomarkers”....
...GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Roche are among the drug companies that will be given access to the data to hunt for clues to potential cures for diseases....
...Even veterans of cancer research who have seen previous waves of excitement come and go — from new chemotherapies to targeted molecular medicines — regard immunotherapies as more than just another bubble...
...The drug was given to patients with a type of early stage breast cancer that had already been treated with Herceptin, the blockbuster drug from Roche....
...“We see science at a turning point where our understanding of the molecular pathways of the human genome is finally reaching the stage where we can translate it into medicines....
...This will impose a heavy burden on healthcare systems in developed and developing economies alike....
...“It is incredibly exciting area but it is also a very complex area,” said Daniel O’Day, head of pharmaceuticals at Roche, last week....
...(Financial Times) Roche is to buy Santaris Pharma for up to $450m in the latest piece of dealmaking by the Swiss pharmaceuticals group....
...The report stresses the potential to increase efficacy and value in a way sought by healthcare systems and insurers – from integrating drugs with genetic markets, imaging and molecular markers, and with...
...Roche, the Swiss drug and diagnostics group, on Monday launched a hostile $3bn cash offer to acquire Ventana Medical Systems and its leading US cancer tissue diagnostics business....
...That trend could prove especially dangerous for pharmaceutical patents on key molecular entities which are usually sold as stand-alone products....
...The five disease biology areas – which reflect Roche’s current research focus and share common clusters of molecular mechanisms – are oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and central nervous system...
...Tumors develop when cancer cells evade, suppress or overwhelm the immune system. In other diseases, the immune system can overreact, leading to chronic inflammation....
...The result is Roche’s Rodin system, developed at the end of the 1990s....
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