Through its recent acquisition of MedPage Today, a news organization serving healthcare professionals, Everyday Health has added a significant offering for healthcare professionals to its portfolio of consumer health information brands. MedPage provides healthcare professionals with peer-reviewed medical reporting and analysis through its websites and mobile applications. As part of the acquisition, MedPage’s CEO and Founder Bob Stern and Editor at Large George Lundberg, M.D., have joined Everyday Health. In addition, Everyday Health has added MedPage partner site KevinMD.com, a widely read medical blog by Kevin Pho, M.D., that provides commentary on breaking medical news and gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the worlds of medicine and healthcare. Benjamin Wolin, CEO and co-founder of Everyday Health, calls the addition of MedPage Today an important step that strengthens the company’s position in the professional marketplace. “Everyday Health excels at providing daily content to a wide consumer audience, and MedPage Today’s daily offering for healthcare professionals is a perfect match," Mr. Wolin says. “Together, we will provide the best health information and tools to positively affect health outcomes." “With Everyday Health’s guidance and expertise, our news organization will continue to grow, flourish, and better serve even more healthcare professionals," adds MedPage Today CEO and Founder Bob Stern. { For more information, visit everydayhealth.com. Entrega to Develop Oral Forms of Biologics Enlight Biosciences has formed Entrega, a new company developing oral drug delivery technologies. Entrega initially is employing its spatially directed proprietary platform to create orally bioavailable formulations of several of the biologic drugs of Enlight’s industry partners. In return, Entrega is to receive up-front and research milestone payments. “Entrega’s technology could have a major impact on medicine by enabling the oral delivery of drugs that would typically require injection," notes Dr. Robert Langer, chair of Entrega’s scientific advisory board and David H. Koch Institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. { For more information, visit enlightbio.com. In other news… Antigenics’ new name, Agenus, reflects the broadening of the company’s product portfolio of clinical candidates beyond autologous antigen-based vaccines, as well as its commitment to actively pursuing licensing opportunities to leverage its development capabilities and expand its product portfolio. “I am extremely proud of the pioneering work we have done in the field of antigen-based personalized cancer vaccines over the past 16 years," says Garo Armen, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Agenus. “But our pipeline and capabilities have expanded since 1994, and we believe our original name no longer captures the current state of the company." Along with the company name change, Agenus has updated the names of some of the products in its development pipeline to emphasize recent clinical developments. For example, HerpV is the new name for Agenus’ investigational herpes vaccine, formerly referred to as AG-707. HerpV has been shown in Phase I clinical trials to induce both CD-4 and CD-8 T cells, which together are thought to be critical in controlling the genital herpes virus. { For more information, visit agenusbio.com. CRI Worldwide’s completion of the acquisition of Lifetree Clinical Research creates one of the nation’s largest research organizations focusing on the conduct and design of early-stage, patient population clinical trials. CRI’s clinical pharmacology capacity now includes more than 120 beds, one of the largest providers of patient population Phase I services in the United States. The combined organization provides sponsors with access to more than 6 million people while providing a broad range of psychiatry and neurology research products. “As they seek to improve returns on research investments, drug companies and contract research organizations increasingly need clinical research sites that can offer highly specialized services and access to patient populations," says Jeffrey Kinell, president and CEO of CRI. Lifetree’s founders Alice Jackson and Lynn Webster, M.D., remain with the company and continue to lead operations in Utah, while becoming part of the combined organization’s senior management and clinical teams. { For more information, visit criww.com. Trend: Medical professionals are increasingly seeking quick, reliable delivery of high-quality information and analysis via online channels. Entrega to Develop Oral Forms of Biologics Enlight Biosciences has formed Entrega, a new company developing oral drug delivery technologies. Entrega initially is employing its spatially directed proprietary platform to create orally bioavailable formulations of several of the biologic drugs of Enlight’s industry partners. In return, Entrega is to receive up-front and research milestone payments. “Entrega’s technology could have a major impact on medicine by enabling the oral delivery of drugs that would typically require injection," notes Dr. Robert Langer, chair of Entrega’s scientific advisory board and David H. Koch Institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. { For more information, visit enlightbio.com. In other news… Antigenics’ new name, Agenus, reflects the broadening of the company’s product portfolio of clinical candidates beyond autologous antigen-based vaccines, as well as its commitment to actively pursuing licensing opportunities to leverage its development capabilities and expand its product portfolio. “I am extremely proud of the pioneering work we have done in the field of antigen-based personalized cancer vaccines over the past 16 years," says Garo Armen, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Agenus. “But our pipeline and capabilities have expanded since 1994, and we believe our original name no longer captures the current state of the company." Along with the company name change, Agenus has updated the names of some of the products in its development pipeline to emphasize recent clinical developments. For example, HerpV is the new name for Agenus’ investigational herpes vaccine, formerly referred to as AG-707. HerpV has been shown in Phase I clinical trials to induce both CD-4 and CD-8 T cells, which together are thought to be critical in controlling the genital herpes virus. { For more information, visit agenusbio.com. CRI Worldwide’s completion of the acquisition of Lifetree Clinical Research creates one of the nation’s largest research organizations focusing on the conduct and design of early-stage, patient population clinical trials. CRI’s clinical pharmacology capacity now includes more than 120 beds, one of the largest providers of patient population Phase I services in the United States. The combined organization provides sponsors with access to more than 6 million people while providing a broad range of psychiatry and neurology research products. “As they seek to improve returns on research investments, drug companies and contract research organizations increasingly need clinical research sites that can offer highly specialized services and access to patient populations," says Jeffrey Kinell, president and CEO of CRI. Lifetree’s founders Alice Jackson and Lynn Webster, M.D., remain with the company and continue to lead operations in Utah, while becoming part of the combined organization’s senior management and clinical teams. { For more information, visit criww.com.
