Category: Biotech/Pharma News
By Kevin E. Noonan — The domestic cat has been the subject of much study, recently involving its genetic structure, genomic DNA sequence, and comparisons with other felines. The first such study was published in 2014, when an international effort led by Stephen J. O’Brien at the Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The advent of technology making feasible elucidation of whole genomic sequencing over the past 30 years has led to reports of many if not most important or interesting animal genomes (including the most celebrated results of the Human Genome Project) (see, e.g., “Nautilus pompilius Genome Determined”; “Giraffe Genome Reveals Relevant […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Cephalopods are fascinating creatures, and their primary living representative — the octopus — has recently been the subject of the Academy Award winning documentary “My Octopus Teacher.” They are clearly intelligent (as set forth in Peter Godfrey-Smith’s Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness), but […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) has been the subject of many genetic studies, particularly since the dawning of the age of Whole Genome Sequencing in the late 20th Century. These studies have elucidated some interesting facts about “man’s best friend,” some of which have been discussed here (see “The […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) has been the subject of many genetic studies, particularly since the dawning of the age of Whole Genome Sequencing in the late 20th Century. These studies have elucidated some interesting facts about “man’s best friend,” some of which have been discussed here (see “The […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) has been the subject of many genetic studies, particularly since the dawning of the age of Whole Genome Sequencing in the late 20th Century. These studies have elucidated some interesting facts about “man’s best friend,” some of which have been discussed here (see “The […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — In a time of a global pandemic, with antivaxxer and anti-science sentiments running rife, and when combinations of fear, distrust, and paranoia are rampant, it is easy for important results from basic science to become fodder inaccurately supporting the doomsday memes that abound. This is the story of a scientific […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Earlier this month, Eric Sagonowsky reviewed the top ten drugs in the U.S. (in terms of sales) losing patent exclusivity in an article published by Fierce Pharma. These drugs are Lucentis (Genentech/Roche), Bystolic (AbbVie/Allergan), Vascepa (Amarin), Nothera (Lundbeck), Narcan (Emergent Biosolutions), Brovana (Sunovion), Sutent (Pfizer), Saphris (AbbVie/Allergan), Amitiza (Mallinckrodt), and […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The humble peach has been the inspiration for pies, album titles, independent movies, and a fictional woman’s baseball team, but is also an important food species, yielding 24.5 million tons globally in 2018. Like all plant species, their sessile nature makes them a good target for environmental studies because, unlike […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The giraffe is the tallest extant terrestrial animal, and its iconic long neck (6 feet) provides advantages for foraging for food and detecting predators on the veldt over long distances. As a consequence, however, the giraffe has a blood pressure two-fold higher than other ruminant animals needed to bring blood […]
By Donald Zuhn — Late last month, a group of intellectual property organizations sent a letter to members of Congress and officials at the Patent and Copyright Offices to express their support for the United States’ continued opposition to the TRIPS waiver proposal being discussed at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The letter’s signatories included […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — A recent COVID post elicited the comment that we were just a “ray of sunshine.” Following in this tradition, this post concerns a recent report, in PLOS Biology, that the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19) evinced the development of a “highly efficient human pathogen” (to quote Billie […]
By Donald Zuhn — Earlier today, a group of fifteen industry and trade organizations sent a letter to five members of the Biden Administration, to express their strong support for the Administration’s work to leverage international mechanisms to help address COVID-19 and also for the Administration’s continued efforts to oppose “a problematic proposal at the […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — When it comes to SARS-CoV-2 infection (and resulting COVID-19), it seems our Neanderthal ancestors giveth and taketh away. Genetic material inherited from interbreeding between Neanderthals and early humans has been shown to increase the risk of serious COVID infection (see “Inherited Neanderthal Gene Encodes Genetic Risk for COVID-19”). Recently, further […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — When it comes to SARS-CoV-2 infection (and resulting COVID-19), it seems our Neanderthal ancestors giveth and taketh away. Genetic material inherited from interbreeding between Neanderthals and early humans has been shown to increase the risk of serious COVID infection (see “Inherited Neanderthal Gene Encodes Genetic Risk for COVID-19”). Recently, further […]
By Donald Zuhn — One year ago today, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic. At the time of the announcement, the WHO noted that there were 118,000 cases reported globally, but in its most recent situation report, the WHO indicated that as of March 7, 2021 there […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The wooly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is an iconic animal, like the saber tooth tiger or dire wolf, from a time in human history when our position at the top of the global food chain was decidedly not assured (and being something’s prey was not limited to just other humans). Perhaps […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the globe, infecting more than 90 million people and causing almost two million deaths (see “Tracking coronavirus’ global spread”). SARS-CoV-2 infection is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic; this virus is recognized as the latest viral infection in humans of zoonotic origins, in this […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — When I awoke, the dire wolf Six hundred pounds of sin Was grinning at my window All I said was, “Come on in” But don’t murder me, I beg of you Don’t murder me, please, don’t murder me “Dire Wolf,” Grateful Dead, Workingman’s Dead The dire wolf (Canis dirus), prototype […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the globe, infecting more than 90 million people and causing almost two million deaths (see “Tracking coronavirus’ global spread”). SARS-CoV-2 infection is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic; this virus is recognized as the latest viral infection in humans of zoonotic origins, in this […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Cancer, the “Emperor of All Maladies” as it has been termed, has been studied for millennia. President Nixon’s “War on Cancer” resulted in slow but steady progress, aided by the biotechnology revolution, the development of monoclonal antibodies (see Herceptin®) and more recent developments in immunological interventions like CAR-T cells (see […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The Fountain of Youth — an enduring aspiration, particularly as the ravages of age reduce human faculties prior to leading inexorably to death. Reduction in sight is the human faculty that can have the greatest effect on quality of life in the aged — a faculty that begins to decline […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Over the past decade, genetic archeology has revealed two branches of the human family tree, one known since the 19th Century (the Neanderthals) and the other more recently discovered (the Denisovans, an Asian relative of the Neanderthal population). These populations evolved without genetic intermingling with Homo sapiens sapiens for about […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Cancer of the appendix is a very rare form of cancer, having an incidence of 0.12 per 1,000,000 person-years (Siegel et al., 2020, Cancer statistics 2020 70:7-30). Incidence is rising (by 232% from 2000-2016 in the U.S.) without a known etiological basis, particularly in individuals less than 50 years old, […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Svante Pääbo created the science of detecting Neanderthal DNA in archeological samples (and living humans) almost single-handedly (see Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes). So it will come as little surprise to many that he published a paper in September describing his discovery of a gene derived from our […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Perception by the five human senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch) varies significantly between individuals and populations. Some use these differences to their advantage, such as sommeliers capable of detecting exquisite shadings in wines (or even the difference between the taste of Coke and Pepsi; see Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink). […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — One of the hallmarks of the current coronavirus pandemic, caused by SARS-Cov-2, is its zoonotic origins. The virus is thought to have risen in bats and “jumped” to humans, and despite conspiracy theories of intentional human engineering (reminiscent of Soviet-backed propaganda in Africa in the 1980’s that HIV/AIDS was produced […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Despite the challenges of addressing a previously unknown virus, development of an effective vaccine, soon, is a distinct possibility (see “Multiple Candidate Coronavirus Vaccines Being Developed According to WHO”). But as set forth in an article in Nature on Monday (“The unequal scramble for coronavirus vaccines — by the numbers”) […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — In the face of the economic and social consequences of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic (COVID-19) and the difficulties attendant in behavioral modifications that could slow progress of the disease (quarantine, lock-down, social distancing, frequent hand washing, and the use of facemasks), the world’s best hope […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the most severe since the 1918 influenza pandemic (colloquially known as the Spanish Flu; see, J. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, Penguin Books; Revised ed. edition (October 4, 2005)). The geographic […]
Turns Out, Early Humans Not the Cause of Woolly Rhinoceros Extinction By Kevin E. Noonan — Paleogenomics (the use of genetic analysis of DNA contained in ancient remains) has developed rapidly since Svante Pääbo first showed that DNA could be extracted in sufficient quantity and of sufficient quality to be useful in making evolutionary comparisons […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — Chemotherapeutic drug resistance is one reason cancer remains an unsolved clinical problem despite the efforts ever since President Nixon declared his “War on Cancer” in 1971. Cancer cells, due in part to the genetic destabilization characteristic of the disease, are capable of expressing genes (normal or aberrant) that permit the […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — One of the signal public health achievements/victories of the 20th Century is the eradication of smallpox (variola virus, VARV) announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980; it has been estimated that smallpox infection killed 300-500 million people in the 20th Century alone. (A compelling example of the effects […]
By Kevin E. Noonan — As the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life throughout the world this spring, bats have been a prominent feature in news stories and recriminations about how the pandemic started (and being blamed even more than happenings in China, although to be fair the effects of the pandemic, good and bad, have […]