Industry news

In the 1985 classic “The Breakfast Club,” (sorry millennials, you simply are not cinematically savvy enough to remember such fare), Principal Richard Vernon reminds John Bender that messing with the bull leads one to getting the horns.

The tiny tube circled an ant’s thorax, gently trapping the insect and demonstrating the utility of a microrobotic tentacle developed by Iowa State University engineers.

Allele to Generate Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Other Cell Types Under cGMP

Accolade, the market-leading consumer health engagement and influence platform for large employers and payers, today announced that Chris Covill, a seasoned health and benefits strategist, has joined the company as executive vice president of Strategic Partnerships.

Skaltek, an innovative start-up from Troitsk just outside Moscow, has developed technology to apply carbon coatings to medical instruments to make surgeries less painful and more effective, the website of Troitsk’s Technospark innovation center announced. The effort is a joint project between Technospark and the Mordovia Nanotech Center in the mid-Volga area.

Plandaí Biotechnology, Inc. (PLPL) (“Plandaí” or “the Company”), producer of the highly bioavailable Phytofare® catechin complex, today announced that it has received the first purchase order from the Company’s exclusive 3-year agreement to supply USN Worldwide with commercial amounts of Phytofare® catechin complex. The Company expects to satisfy the purchase order, which was received from one of USN’s contract manufacturers in the South African market, this week.

COLOMBIA -- A $100 million Genentech (RHHBY) study on Alzheimer’s treatment is focusing on members of a Colombian family who may carry a rare gene that leads to early onset dementia by age 45, the Wall Street Journal reported this morning. If the trials pan out, it could lead to the development of a drug that could treat the cause of Alzheimer’s disease, rather than help manage symptoms.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as DuPont Co. and Travelers Cos. slumped after reporting results, while a takeover offer for Mylan NV pushed the Nasdaq Composite Index higher.