Arizona Congressmen David Schweikert and Ron Barber were instrumental in helping AZBio Member Valley Fever Solutions receive Fast-Track Designation from the FDA for the potential curative anti-Valley Fever drug nikkomycin Z (NikZ) as a “qualifying infectious disease product” (QIDP) under the GAIN Act, which will help move it into clinical trials and eventually help patients.Continue reading
Category Archives: AZBio News
Flinn Awards Grant to NAU and Flagstaff Medical Center
Flinn Foundation grant to support NAU health partnership
The Flinn Foundation has awarded $200,000 to Northern Arizona University, which will collaborate with Flagstaff Medical Center on a project identifying how and where people in the community get infected with common germs.
“It will be used to link clinical cases of infectious agents to their sources in the community, and projects that are not even conceived at this point will eventually be possible through this work,” said Paul Keim, Regents professor and director of TGEN’s Pathogen Genomics Division.
This project is part of the Translational Health Research Initiative, the formal partnership between NAU and Northern Arizona Healthcare, FMC’s parent company.
“We have identified common goals so that we can work together to improve the health of our communities,” said Mark Carroll, FMC’s interim chief medical officer.
The genome analysis will take place at NAU with continuous consultation with FMC staff, who will help researchers understand the results in the context of a health care setting. This collaboration is expected to improve understanding of exposure to common infections and guide future research efforts to prevent illness.
A critical component of this project is creating a biobank, a collection of tubes in an ultra cold freezer, along with computer files about the specimens. Along with facilitating infectious disease research, the biobank will support future studies and grant submissions.
Robert Trotter, NAU’s associate vice president for Health Research Initiatives, said the THRIVE partnership for community-based health care research could become a model, which could be adopted in other cities and regions.
The Flinn Foundation is a Phoenix-based philanthropic organization, which funds initiatives designed to improve quality of life in Arizona for future generations. The Foundation’s Seed Grants Initiative to Promote Translational Research in Precision Medicine will cover two years of funding for the NAU partnership.
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong Launches Chan Soon-Shiong Institute of Molecular Medicine to Transform Health Systems
A New Method for Healing Hearts
A UA surgeon is exploring how amniotic tissue, with its anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring properties, may help prevent complications after heart surgery.Continue reading
Insys Therapeutics Receives FDA Orphan Drug Designation for Its Pharmaceutical Cannabidiol as a Potential Treatment for Glioma
Insys Therapeutics, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company that is developing and commercializing innovative drugs and novel drug delivery systems, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation (ODD) to its pharmaceutical cannabidiol (CBD) for the treatment of glioma, which comprises approximately eighty percent of all malignant brain tumors. The ODD includes pontine glioma (PG), a devastating form of primary brainstem glioma.Continue reading
$1.8M grant supports UA Cancer Center’s cancer biology program in Tucson
TUCSON, Ariz. – The National Cancer Institute has awarded the University of Arizona Cancer Center a $1.8 million grant to continue training cancer researchers for the future.Continue reading
Understanding Prop 303 – The Right to Try
This November, Arizona voters will have an opportunity to decide if Proposition 303 called “The Right to Try” should become law in Arizona. It is important to understand what this proposed law does and does not do.Continue reading
Critical Path Institute Receives Second Grant for Advancing Tuberculosis Treatments
New multi-year grant from the the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation continues work to study pressing public health crisis
ASU Scientists to speak at BIO Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology
Mayo grant will advance ASU’s development of device to aid diabetics
An award of $65,000 from Mayo Clinic in Arizona will help Arizona State University bioengineer Jeffrey La Belle continue development of a tear-based glucose meter designed to help people living with diabetes monitor their health.