patients who are healthy but at high-risk for cancer. The other test is intended to monitor patients who have been diagnosed with certain types of cancer, and help them and their physicians assess the progression or recurrence of disease.
—Aduro Biotech (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ADRO]]) of Berkeley, CA, said it would join forces with Incyte (NASDAQ: [[ticker:INCY]]) to fund an early stage trial that combines Aduro’s CRS-207 and Incyte’s epacadostat as a treatment for ovarian cancer.
—Scott Harkonen, the former CEO of Brisbane, CA-based InterMune, lost an appeal when a federal court upheld an earlier ruling that the Department of Justice was not obligated to correct a press release that described Harkonen’s criminal conviction in 2009.
—After meeting with FDA regulators, San Diego’s Otonomy (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OTIC]]) said it has firmed up its plans for carrying out two Phase 3 trials of its drug candidate for treating Ménière’s disease, a disorder of the inner ear that can cause extreme vertigo. The company said it still expects to begin one trial by the end of this year, with the second beginning by March of next year.
—Denali Therapeutics of South San Francisco, CA, founded by three Genentech alumni, returned again to the Genentech well to add to its executive team—this time hiring Genentech’s chief financial officer Steve Krognes as its own.
—Biosimilar developer Coherus BioSciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CHRS]]) of Redwood City, CA, said it had hired Juliana Reed as its vice president of government affairs. Reed was previously running the Biosimilars Forum trade group. The hiring comes just days after a biosimilar from Novartis, the first approved by the FDA, was cleared by a court last week and could soon hit the U.S. market.
—An engineering team led by UC San Diego professor Patrick Mercier demonstrated a new wireless technology for wearable sensors that uses a magnetic field to transmit signals through the human body. Researchers already have moved to patent the technology, which would be significantly more efficient than conventional Bluetooth radios that have to overcome the signal degradation known as “path loss.”
—AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACRX]]) said Wednesday its pain drug ARX-04 yielded positive topline Phase 3 results. The company will present the full results at a medical conference in October.
Xconomy National Biotech Editor Alex Lash contributed to this report.
