Category Archives: Biotechnology

Here's a roundup of top developments in the biotech space over the last 24 hours:

(Biotech Stocks Hitting 52-week Highs June 1)

(Biotech Stocks Hitting 52-week Lows June 1)

Roche Holdings AG Basel ADR Common Stock (OTC: RHHBY) said the FDA approved its Tecentriq in combination with Avastin for the treatment of people with unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma who have not received prior systemic therapy.

Allena Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ALNA) shares were surging ahead of the company's presentation at the Jefferies Virtual Healthcare Conference. The shares were higher in Monday's regular session, reacting to an initiation by H.C. Wainwright with a Buy rating and $10 price target.

Analyst Edward White said the biopharma is an "undervalued enzyme therapeutic company."

Following a 31.55% jump to $2.21 in Monday's regular session, Allena shares were rallying by 35.29% to $2.99 in Tuesday's premarket session.

Esperion Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ESPR) shares came under pressure after a federal district court accorded class action status to a lawsuit filed on behalf of investors, alleging the company issued misleading statements about its non-statin cholesterol-lowering drug Nexletol in a bid to artificially inflate thestock price.

The stock fell after it was evident the drug did not have a clear path to regulatory approval, the lawsuit alleged.

The stock slid 3.07% to $40.77 in after-hours trading.

Related Link:The Week Ahead In Biotech: ASCO, Menlo And Merck FDA Decisions, IPOs In The Spotlight

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced the establishment of the Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative, through which the company said itwill invest up to $500 million in biotechnology companies to help provide funding and access to its scientific expertise to ensure continuity of the biotechnology companies' most promising clinical development programs.

Sumitovant Biopharma said its affiliate Myovant Sciences Ltd (NYSE: MYOV) has submitted an NDA for the once-daily relugolix combo tablet, comprising relugolix 40 mg, estradiol 1mg and norethindrone acetate 0.5 mg, for the treatment of women with heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids.

The stock was trading 0.95% higher at $17.09 in the premarket session.

Sanofi SA (NASDAQ: SNY) said the European Commission has approved its Sarclisain combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies including lenalidomide and a proteasome inhibitor and have demonstrated disease progression on the last therapy.

Aytu Bioscience Inc (NASDAQ: AYTU) said it has retired $15 million debt assumed in connection with its previously announced acquisition of Cerecor Inc's(NASDAQ: CERC) Commercial Portfolio.

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: TTPH) said a revised offer from Melinta received in response to another revised offer from anothersuitor,AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ACRX), has been deemed a superior offer by its board.

Melinta and AcelRx have been engaged in a bidding war to lap up Tetraphase, with both companies sweetening their respective bids a few times.

The revised AcelRx offer received May 27 called for exchanging each unit ofTetraphase stock for $0.5872 in cash and 0.7409AcelRx shares, representing $1.70 in upfront per share value, and one CVR, entitling the holders to receive potential payments of up to $16 million in cash upon the achievement of certain future Xerava net sales milestones starting in 2021.

Melinta's most recent bid offered $39 million in cash,plus an additional $16 million in cash potentially payable under CVR to be issued in the proposed acquisition.

In premarket trading Tuesday, Tetraphase gained 6.9% to $2.48, while AcelRx shares were surging higher by 6.3% to $1.35.

OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSUR) said it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 8 million shares of its common stock.

The stock slipped 4.32% to $13.51 in after-hours trading.

Adaptimmune priced its underwritten public offering of 20.5 million shares of its ADSs at $11 eachfor gross proceeds of $225.5 million. The company expects the offering to close on or about June 4.

Kaleido Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: KLDO) priced its underwritten public offering of 4.75 million shares of its common stock at $7.50 per share. The company expects to raise gross proceeds of $35.6 million from the offering. All the shares are being offered by the company. The offering is expected to close June 4.

The stock was trading 2.87% higher at $8.24 in the premarket session.

Allogene Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ALLO) priced its underwritten public offering of 11.702 million shares at $47 per share for gross proceeds of $550 million.The offering is expected to close on or about June 4.

The stock fell 0.57% to $48.66 in after-hours trading.

Guardant Health Inc (NASDAQ: GH) announced the commencement of a proposed underwritten public offering of 10 million shares of its common stock, of which 3 million shares are being offered by Guardant Health and 7 million by SoftBank Investment.

The stock was up 0.1% at $48.99 premarket.

G1 Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: GTHX) said it has entered into a debt financing agreement with Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE: HTGC) for up to $100 million. The company plans to use the proceeds to fund commercialization and further development of trilaciclib, its first-in-class investigational therapy designed to improve outcomes for people with cancer treated with chemotherapy.

Intellia Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: NTLA) said it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $75 million of shares of its common stock. All of the shares in the proposed offering are to be sold by Intellia.

Intellia shares were trading 0.91% higher at $20.73 premarket Tuesday.

Related Link: Attention Biotech Investors: Mark Your Calendar For June PDUFA Dates

2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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The Daily Biotech Pulse: FDA Nod For Roche's Combo Therapy In Liver Cancer, Allena Rips Higher, Pfizer To Invest Up To $500M In Biotechs - Benzinga

The Biotechnology Algae Cultivation Process (Micro Algae) Market report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.

Click the link to get a Sample Copy of the Report:

https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/07111355083/global-biotechnology-algae-cultivation-process-micro-algae-market-size-status-and-forecast-2019-2025/inquiry?source=coleofduty&Mode=11

The report presents the market competitive landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/key players in the market. Top Companies in the Global Biotechnology Algae Cultivation Process (Micro Algae) Market: Cellana, Ecoduna, Algenol Biofuels, Solix Biofuels, Sapphire Energy, Solazyme, Seambiotic, LGem, Cyanotech, DENSO, Mialgae and others.

Biotechnology algae cultivation process like algaculture is a form of aquaculture involving the farming of species of algae. The majority of algae that are intentionally cultivated fall into the category of microalgae (also referred to as phytoplankton, microphytes, or planktonic algae).

Global Biotechnology Algae Cultivation Process (Micro Algae) Market Split by Product Type and Applications:

This report segments the market on the basis of Types are:

Euglenophyta (Euglenoids)Chrysophyta (Golden-Brown Algae and Diatoms)Pyrrophyta (Fire Algae)Chlorophyta (Green Algae)Rhodophyta (Red Algae)Paeophyta (Brown Algae)Xanthophyta (Yellow-Green Algae)Others

On the basis of Application, the market is segmented into:

FoodFertilizer and AgarPollution ControlEnergy Production

Regional Analysis For Biotechnology Algae Cultivation Process (Micro Algae) Market:

For comprehensive understanding of market dynamics, the global Biotechnology Algae Cultivation Process (Micro Algae) market is analyzed across key geographies namely:

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)

Each of these regions is analyzed on basis of market findings across major countries in these regions for a macro-level understanding of the market.

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Biotechnology Algae Cultivation Process (Micro Algae) Market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period. It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger and acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 20202026.

Following are major Table of Content of Biotechnology Algae Cultivation Process (Micro Algae) Market:

Global Market Overview, Drivers, Restraints and Opportunities, Segmentation overview

Global Market competition by top Players

Analysis by Regions

Consumption by Regions

Consumption, By Types, Revenue and Market share by Types

Consumption, By Applications, Market share (%) and Growth Rate by Applications

Complete profiling and analysis of Players

Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers

Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders

Global Market Effect Factors Analysis

Global Market Forecast

Global Market Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source

Finally, all aspects of the Global Market are quantitatively as well qualitatively assessed to study the Global as well as regional market comparatively. This market study presents critical information and factual data about the market providing an overall statistical study of this market on the basis of market drivers, limitations and its future prospects. The report supplies the international economic competition with the assistance of Porters Five Forces Analysis and SWOT Analysis.

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Biotechnology Algae Cultivation Process (Micro Algae) Market Global Research, Size, Share and Growth Opportunity 2020 to 2026 - Cole of Duty

SAN FRANCISCO, May 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UNITY Biotechnology (UNITY) [NASDAQ:UBX], a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to extend healthspan by slowing, halting or reversing diseases of aging, today announced that members of its senior management team will participate in the upcoming Goldman Sachs 41st Annual Global Healthcare Conference.

Goldman Sachs 41st Annual Global Healthcare Conference

Date: June 11, 2020Fireside Chat Time: 3:50 PM E.T. Location: Virtual

A live audio webcast of the fireside chat will be available through the Investors & Media section of UNITYs website. An archived replay will be available for 90 days following the event.

About UNITYUNITY is developing therapeutics to extend healthspan with an initial focus on cellular senescence. UNITY believes that the accumulation of senescent cells is a fundamental mechanism of aging and a driver of many common age-related diseases. Cellular senescence is a natural biological state in which a cell permanently halts division. As senescent cells accumulate with age, they begin secreting inflammatory factors, proteases, fibrotic factors, and growth factors, that disturb the tissue micro-environment. This collection of secreted proteins is referred to as the Senescence Associated Secretory Phenotype, or SASP. UNITY is developing senolytic medicines to eliminate senescent cells and thereby stop the production of the SASP, which UNITY believes addresses a root cause of age-related diseases. By stopping the production of the SASP at it source, UNITY believes senolytic medicines could slow, halt, or reverse diseases such as osteoarthritis and age-related eye diseases. More information is available atwww.unitybiotechnology.comor follow us onTwitter.

Investors Endurance AdvisorsMike Zanonimzanoni@enduranceadvisors.com

Media Canale CommunicationsJason Sparkjason@canalecomm.com

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UNITY Biotechnology to Participate in the Goldman Sachs 41st Annual Global Healthcare Conference - GlobeNewswire

The 36 rating InvestorsObserver gives to Millendo Therapeutics Inc (MLND) stock puts it near the bottom of the Biotechnology industry. In addition to scoring higher than 18 percent of stocks in the Biotechnology industry, MLNDs 36 overall rating means the stock scores better than 36 percent of all stocks.

Analyzing stocks can be hard. There are tons of numbers and ratios, and it can be hard to remember what they all mean and what counts as good for a given value. InvestorsObserver ranks stocks on eight different metrics. We percentile rank most of our scores to make it easy for investors to understand. A score of 36 means the stock is more attractive than 36 percent of stocks.

Our proprietary scoring system captures technical factors, fundamental analysis and the opinions of analysts on Wall Street. This makes InvestorsObservers overall rating a great way to get started, regardless of your investing style. Percentile-ranked scores are also easy to understand. A score of 100 is the top and a 0 is the bottom. Theres no need to try to remember what is good for a bunch of complicated ratios, just pay attention to which numbers are the highest.

Millendo Therapeutics Inc (MLND) stock is down -5.65% while the S&P 500 is up 0.79% as of 1:27 PM on Wednesday, Jun 3. MLND is down -$0.13 from the previous closing price of $2.30 on volume of 1,095,306 shares. Over the past year the S&P 500 is higher by 10.77% while MLND is down -86.08%. MLND lost -$3.12 per share the over the last 12 months.

To see the top 5 stocks in Biotechnology click here.

Link:
Does Millendo Therapeutics Inc (MLND) Stock Beat its Rivals in Biotechnology? - InvestorsObserver

Cardiff Oncology Inc (CRDF) is near the bottom in its industry group according to InvestorsObserver. CRDF gets an overall rating of 0. That means it scores higher than 0 percent of stocks. Cardiff Oncology Inc gets a 0 rank in the Biotechnology industry. Biotechnology is number 8 out of 148 industries.

Analyzing stocks can be hard. There are tons of numbers and ratios, and it can be hard to remember what they all mean and what counts as good for a given value. InvestorsObserver ranks stocks on eight different metrics. We percentile rank most of our scores to make it easy for investors to understand. A score of 0 means the stock is more attractive than 0 percent of stocks.

This ranking system incorporates numerous factors used by analysts to compare stocks in greater detail. This allows you to find the best stocks available in any industry with relative ease. These percentile-ranked scores using both fundamental and technical analysis give investors an easy way to view the attractiveness of specific stocks. Stocks with the highest scores have the best evaluations by analysts working on Wall Street.

Cardiff Oncology Inc (CRDF) stock has fallen -3.93% while the S&P 500 has risen 0.79% as of 1:28 PM on Wednesday, Jun 3. CRDF is lower by -$0.13 from the previous closing price of $3.31 on volume of 910,007 shares. Over the past year the S&P 500 is higher by 10.77% while CRDF has risen 7.07%. CRDF lost -$2.12 per share the over the last 12 months.

To see the top 5 stocks in Biotechnology click here.

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Does Cardiff Oncology Inc (CRDF) Stock Beat its Rivals in Biotechnology? - InvestorsObserver

New Delhi: The Department of Biotechnology has taken several proactive measures to streamline the biosafety regulation and to facilitate researchers and industries which are undertaking research and development in Recombinant DNA Technology and Hazardous Microorganisms.

1. Operationalization of Indian Biosafety Knowledge Portal. The Indian Knowledge Biosafety Portal launched in May, 2019 was made fully operationalized and now the Department is receiving all new applications through online portal only. This has made the whole process transparent and time bound.

2. Notification of Revised Simplified Guidelines on Import, Export and Exchange of GE Organisms and Product Thereof for R&D Purpose: The Department issued the Revised Guidelines in January, 2020 in which Institutional Biosafety Committee have been delegated authority to take decisions on applications of import export and exchange of GE organisms and product thereof for R&D purpose for RG1 and RG2 items.

3. Facilitation of Research and Development on COVID-19: Considering the emerging situations of spread of Coronavirus and with the understanding on requirement of rapid research and development for COVI-19, the Department has proactively taken several steps to facilitate researchers and industries involved in research on COVID19. DBT has issued following guidelines, orders and checklist on COVID 19:

Rapid Response Regulatory Framework for COVID-19 to deal with application for development of vaccines, diagnostics, prophylactics and therapeutics has been notified on 20.03.2020DBT notified Interim Guidance Document on Laboratory Biosafety to Handle COVID-19 Specimens on 08.04.2020.IBSCs are allowed to conduct their meeting through video conferencing up to 30thJune, 2020.Rapid response regulatory framework for development of recombinant DNA COVID 19 vaccine was issued on 26.05.2020.

Original post:
A Rapid Response Regulatory enabling mechanism facilitated by Department of Biotechnology for COVID 19 - India Education Diary

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Distributed Bio, a global leader in computational optimization of fully human monoclonal antibody libraries, is pleased to announce a comprehensive research partnership with Mediar Therapeutics, a preclinical stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics to halt, or even reverse, fibrosis based in Cambridge, MA. Distributed Bio will use its SuperHuman2.0 Antibody Discovery platform to identify lead antibodies for Mediar programs.

Mediar selected Distributed Bio based on their industry-leading scientific technology and expertise in antibody discovery, says Dr Paul Yaworsky, CSO of Mediar. The platform is engineered to yield a truly diverse panel of fully human high affinity antibodies which enhance our ability to generate therapeutic candidates that match our selectivity, cross reactivity and developability requirements. Drug development is inherently a high-risk process. At Mediar we strive to take every measure to mitigate those risks. Partnering with Distributed Bio is one of those measures, and ultimately leads us to delivering lifesaving therapeutics faster and more efficiently.

We are delighted that Mediar selected Distributed Bio as a preferred partner for antibody discovery, says Dr Jacob Glanville, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Distributed Bio. The SuperHuman Platform represents the culmination of a decade of our research in computational library design. Weve recently demonstrated how effective and fast it is by generating a large panel of neutralizing antibodies against Covid-19 in a matter of weeks. The ultimate goal of everyone in the biotechnology industry is to improve patients lives as fast as possible. Our technologies represent an essential tool in that fight.

The SuperHuman2.0 antibody library of 76 billion sequence-unique antibodies offers a new paradigm in antibody discovery: hits to any target, with species cross-reactivity and selectivity that are crucial for success. The hits are H3-diverse, thermostabilized >70C, non-immunogenic, fully human, pre-screened by human blood and exist on 100% germline frameworks with robust therapeutic pedigrees to enhance developability, CMC, and human safety profiles. SuperHuman2.0 delivers an order of magnitude more molecules than can be generated by other technologies, and enables partners to search for ultra-specific, species-cross reactive therapeutic antibodies at unprecedented speeds. The library overcomes many of the limitations of other monoclonal generation technologies that has resulted in a unique engineering opportunity: a library that can generate diverse and developable hits against every antigen tested, enabling routine success against historically impossible or challenging antibody targets Covid-19, GPCRs agonists and antagonists, Ion Channels, pMHC complexes, broadly-neutralizing antibodies against HIV, therapeutic anti-idiotypic antibodies, bi-epitopic antibodies, ultra-selective antibodies that avoid related proteins, and mouse/NHP/human cross-reactive antibodies with low species homology.

About Distributed Bio

Distributed Bio is a computational immunoengineering biotechnology group, self-funded by the success of the stack of antibody discovery, optimization and analysis technologies to partners across the pharmaceutical industry. Our mission is to disrupt biologic engineering with big data, machine learning, and computational immunology-driven design.

From a team that includes inventors of antibody repertoire sequencing technologies, their AbGenesis antibody and TCR repertoire analysis and engineering platform enables partners to analyze antibody repertoires by high-throughput sequence, Sanger sequence, and functional assay without requiring large data center investments or local bioinformatics specialists. By using AbGenesis to analyze thousands of antibody repertoires and antibody libraries, they developed the computationally optimized SuperHuman2.0 antibody library, the SLiC single light chain library, the Tungsten humanized VHH library, CAR-T discovery library, and the Cosmic antibody library.

About Mediar Therapeutics

Mediar Therapeutics is a preclinical stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics to halt, or even reverse, fibrosis and restore long-term organ function. The platform and pipeline are based on an emerging class of novel targets fibrotic mediators that play key roles in modulating myofibroblast biology and the development of fibrosis in chronically damaged organs. Mediar was founded by Partners Innovation Fund, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Womens Hospital.

Original post:
Distributed Bio Partners With Mediar Therapeutics, Inc. - Business Wire

Pakistan is caught in the midst of a pandemic. While the new tested cases and deaths are rising exponentially, the data is not conclusive. Testing through swabs and blood/faecal samples is like a drop in the ocean. Laboratories in Pakistan are under strain due to limited supply of imported testing kits and very limited capability in testing blood/faecal samples. Chinese testing kits are under criticism in Italy and Tanzania. Even in Pakistan, these kits have given varying results. It is most important that Pakistans microbiology and biotechnology laboratories take up this challenge to make simulations and predictive models.

As a developing country, Pakistan cannot afford a laid-back approach and depend on overseas research and development. Microbiology and biotechnology, as relatively new scientific disciplines, lessen the technological gap between the developed and developing world. Universities, pharmaceutical companies, laboratories and research organisations related to this subject in health and agriculture must take measures through accelerated research in health, viruses, genetics and agriculture to keep pace. The research must cover the entire biological, botanical, and RNA in humans, animals, flora and fauna. In the past twenty years, Pakistan was leading the world in the development of resistant high yield seeds, only to be deliberately pulled down from the ramp. Why cant it restart?

In early March, there was news that the Institute of Microbiology at Punjab University, Lahore had developed a very economic system of testing. The news has since died. What happened to this project; it is a case worth investigating.

On March 30, 2020, Dr Ata ur Rehman said, The Chinese strain has more potent chromosomes than the Pakistani strain of the coronavirus. He said that the revelation came during recent research carried out at the Jamil-ur-Rahman Centre for Genome Research at the University of Karachi. Even in the USA, some states are recording lesser fatalities than New York because of the preponderance of a weaker strain. As COVID-19 spreads and diversifies into more than 11 identifiable strains, the bottom line is that the virus causing fatalities in Europe and USA is a different strain from the one that emerged in Wuhan, China or even Pakistan.

NUST Islamabad flashed a ground-breaking testing research into the virus in collaboration with Wuhan Institute of Virology China, DZIF Germany, Columbia University USA and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) Rawalpindi.

It would be wise to coordinate this research between NUST, Punjab and Karachi Universities. The run should not be for an exclusive patent but a Pakistani patent.

A Pakistani Russian scientist also claimed he had a cheap cure. This was followed by a press conference by a Pakistani Pharma Company with its own doctors offering a modified anti-viral drug and spray already in use in New Zealand and Russia. How true and how potent are the discoveries is yet to be ascertained. Has the government in limited ways tested these cures or is it dragging its feet through the maze of scientific bureaucracy, FDA approvals, WHO and CDC?

All above developments are reassuring because the future of Pakistan depends on how the country can develop its own systems. Once it comes to microbiology and biotechnology, there is a convergence. The two most critical areas are health and agriculture and Pakistani scientists are second to none.

Laboratories and universities the world over are in a race against time, identifying deadly strains that according to some experts, mutate once a month. There is a blame game converging on China. Worldwide research has so far identified eleven strains. Some scientists fear that newer evolutions could be deadlier and research must keep in pace with a broader spectrum of research in corona pandemic viruses. Wild bats are the focal point of most researches and this is where USA and China link together.

There is a competition and turf war going on between the scientific communities, state regulators, corporates and invisible bio laboratories the world over. In USA, doctors and scientists are critical of CDC, Lugar Centre, the Pentagon bio laboratory in Tbilisi Georgia, Eco Health Alliance USA and many other laboratories. This war is not only about patents and discoveries but also incriminating allegations related to biological warfare and inadequate safety precautions.

Critics cite that the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China (a BSL4 bio laboratory) had received a grant of 3.7 million from USA through the Eco Health Alliance USA from 2014-2019. The research included screening wild-caught and market sampled bats from 30 or more species for corona, using molecular assays; genomic characterisation and isolation of novel CoVs; virus infection experiments across a range of cell cultures from different species and humanised mice. Peter Daszak, President of Eco Health Alliance, maintains he collected bat samples with Chinese colleagues but the Wuhan laboratory only did genetic sequencing. Scientists suspect that the viruses were stored in Tbilisi Georgia, the nerve centre of US research.

Then why does USA continue to blame China is a question that shall only be answered when more whistleblowers join the chorus. The criticism by scientific communities against their own cannot be whisked away as a conspiracy theory. Right now, it is conjecture.

Pakistan is a country with very deep-rooted international corporate interests in nearly every area of national development. These include economics, pharmaceuticals, industry, health and agriculture. Though Pakistan may be new in the field of virology, results produced by Pakistani scientists in agriculture are remarkable but sabotaged in interests of international GM and BT corporates. If past is precedent, Pakistans research in the field of health could meet the same fate.

In a recent talk show, an anchor questioned Jahangir Tareen, why he chose sugarcane instead of cotton and wheat in water-starved South Punjab. His straight response was that there had been no research in Pakistan for the past 10-20 years. Facts are contrary.

What stopped Pakistans research into high grade seeds was the overwhelming influence of Monsanto in Pakistans corridors of power. Back then, Jehanghir Tareen was advisor to Chief Minister Punjab, advocating Monsanto cotton. In a letter by Dr Zafar Altaf, the Monsanto intervention was blocked, but Federal Agriculture Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal and Federal Secretary Agriculture continued to pursue it by discouraging Pakistani research. Monsanto BT gene was an insurance against one pest while the hybrids produced by Pakistan had three gene structures and were more resistant. Monsanto was an 11-month crop while the Pakistani hybrid was a 110-day crop and could be grown three times in a year. Americans were alarmed and sent cotton scientists to map NARC activities where the seeds were developed. This eventually led to some economic activities that sent shivers in the Pakistani cotton industry. Dr Zafar Altaf was asked to leave NARC/PARC. By 2013, he was declared an outlaw. Cotton Research in NARC/PARC was closed, Dr Zar Quraish, the scientist who developed these, retired. All serums were destroyed at the Cotton Research Institute Multan to create an open field for Monsanto.

The bottom line is that there was ground-breaking research and excellent cotton production in Sindh and the Barani areas of Punjab. Unfortunately, seed production was stopped and South Punjab became a sugarcane area. Influential and powerful lobbies within power corridors made sure that Pakistani seed production that would have revolutionised cotton production was shut down. The same fate was also met by Pakistans Canola Project, ditched in 1996. Now we depend on Monsanto seeds to grow Canola in Pakistan.

The purpose of linking virology and agriculture is to underline the fact that excellent research in Pakistan can result in zero results when confronted with powerful lobbies and elites within the system. Every Pakistani must be on guard and back the three universities working on COVID-19. Or else the results will be no different from cotton and canola.

Unlike the past, when Pakistans excellent research in biotechnology was jettisoned, Pakistan First must become the cardinal motivation for delivering results.

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Microbiology and biotechnology - The Nation

Updated: May 25, 2018:

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CFIUS and Critical Technologies: Implications for the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Sector - JD Supra

TOULOUSE, France - Airbus and Koniku Inc. have made a significant step forward in the co-development of a solution for aircraft and airport security operations, by extending research activities to include biological hazard detection capabilities, as well as chemical and explosive threats.

The disruptive biotechnology solution, which was originally focused on the contactless and automated detection, tracking and location of chemicals and explosives on-board aircraft and in airports, is now being adapted, in light of the COVID-19 crisis, to include the identification of biological hazards.

Based on the power of odor detection and quantification found in nature, the technical solution, developed to meet the rigorous operational regulatory requirements of aircraft and airport security operations, uses genetically engineered odorant receptors that produce an alarm signal when they come into contact with the molecular compounds of the hazard or threat that they have been programmed to detect.

Airbus and Koniku Inc. entered into a cooperation agreement in 2017, leveraging Airbus expertise in sensor integration and knowledge of ground and on-board security operations within the aviation and defense industries as well as Konikus biotechnology know-how for automated and scalable volatile organic compound detection (via their Konikore platform).

See the article here:
Airbus and Koniku Inc. team on biotechnology solutions for aviation security operations - Intelligent Aerospace