A drug candidate developed at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and its collaborators to treat sickle cell disease has been acquired by Baxter International's bioscience unit. Baxter recently acquired AesRx of Newton, Massachusetts, an NIH collaborator in the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases program, whose drug candidate, Aes-103, is the first specifically developed to target the underlying molecular mechanism of sickle cell disease. Baxter will advance the clinical development activities required for regulatory approval and commercialization.

“Starting from zero and going to 60 is not so easy, but once you're at 60 you can keep going at that rate.” Kevin J. Whaley, CEO of Mapp Biopharmaceuticals of San Diego, the private biotech that developed the Ebola monoclonal antibody given to the two American healthcare workers infected with the virus in Africa. (The New York Times, 6 August 2014)

“If you ask us to figure it out for you, we will. But you may not like what we figure out.” House Energy & Commerce vice chairman of the Health Subcommittee Michael Burgess (R-TX) suggests that insurance companies and drug makers should work together on payment mechanisms or risk government intervention at the July 11 American Enterprise Institute forum on Paying the Costs for Cures. (RPM Report, 15 July 2014)