A REFILLABLE IMPLANT DELIVERS STEADY STREAM OF HIV PROPHYLACTICS February 29, 2016 By Rob Goodier NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A refillable implant could someday passively administer pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs to HIV patients. Now in animal trials, the device has successfully released a stream of tenofovir diphosphate and emtricitabine triphosphate without the need for pumps, valves or a power supply, according to research presented February 21 at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology Conference in Houston, Texas. “The constant drug release is achieved through the use of nanochannels, which are engineered in size to be slightly larger (but still comparable) to the size of drug …

March 7, 2016 | By Varun Saxena Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) is hosting nanotechnology specialist NanoMedical Systems at its new JLABS life science incubator in Houston, signaling that it has interest in the company’s drug delivery implant and injectable antitumor particles. The Austin, TX-based company makes the Personalized Molecular Drug-delivery System. The quarter-sized implant contains a chip from which the molecules diffuse into the body. According to the company website, the chip achieves “constant release” of the selected drug thanks to its so-called nanochannels, which are about the size of a specific drug molecule. Meanwhile, NanoMedical Systems’ Multi-Stage nanoVector Drug Delivery System consists of a disc-shaped nanoporous silicon particle that …

Johnson & Johnson Innovation Unveils JLABS @ TMC to Help Catalyze Early Stage Research through to Commercialization for Healthcare Solutions in Houston HOUSTON, March 2, 2016 — Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC today opened JLABS @ TMC, a new 34,000-square foot life sciences incubator providing entrepreneurs shared lab space, private offices, and modular laboratory suites, as well as state of the art equipment and value-added operational, education, and business services. The new JLABS facility can accommodate up to 50 startups, and will open with 21 companies that represent a range of disciplines and geographies. This first “class” of resident startups includes the four winners of the JLABS Quick Fire Challenge, …

Mauro Ferrari, President and CEO of the Houston Methodist Research Institute and one of the founders of the field of nanomedicine, has been selected for the 2015 ETH Zürich Stodola Medal, an honor bestowed by the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering. Ferrari will be honored April 1 at a special event in the Swiss banking capital, and will also give the honorary ETH Zürich Aurel Stodola Lecture, titled “MultiStage Vectors and Transport OncoPhysics,” on the ways in which advances in mechanical engineering can aid the rapid development of new medical technologies. ETH Zürich mechanical engineering faculty members selected Ferrari from an international slate of distinguished scientists because Ferrari is …