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2014
Dec 2014 | Download as pdf

St. Cloud Surgical Center is First ASC in U.S. to Utilize Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot to Disinfect Operating Rooms & Enhance Patient Safety more

Dec 2014 | Download as pdf

4 cheap small cap stocks I’ve got my eye for Christmas more

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Southern Biologics Network Established to Create Biologics Faster and Less Expensively more

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Morningside Ministries at the Manor is the First Skilled Nursing Facility in Texas to Protect Residents with Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot more

Dec 2014 | Download as pdf

RBA to cut rates in 2015: Still want to invest in term deposits? more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

Can robots help stop the Ebola outbreak? more

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Robots Help Fight Ebola more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

South Florida Hospital Unveils Ebola-Zapping Robot more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

Sonoma Valley Hospital uses robot to kill germs more

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Robots go to war against Ebola more

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New iTraumaCare CEO to pursue big growth more

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UAB and SRI have plans to spinoff more success more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

Launch of Galderma's new acne products more

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iTraumaCare’s new CEO to help company secure new funding more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

U.S. Air Force Hospital Langley Adds Xenex Ebola-Zapping Robot to Inventory more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Forthcoming Acne Treatment Made With Exclusive (And Sustainable) East Indian Sandalwood Oil more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Sonoma Valley Hospital Acquires Xenex Germ-Killing Robot to Enhance Patient Safety more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Robot fights germs at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Xenex updates protocols for germ-zapping robots in response to Ebola threat more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

How do we get rid of the endotoxins? Birmingham's  has the solution

As you can probably imagine, drug development is tricky business. 

And despite what your Anti-Vaxer coworker may loudly and dangerously espouse, the process is long, thorough, and rigorous.

The injectables that make it to market have been carefully tested and developed by people who know what they are doing.

An important part of that process, especially when it comes to large molecule drugs, is finding a suspension solution for the drugs that will keep it from breaking down before it gets to the patient. That's what Soluble Therapeutics does.

Go read my piece on Soluble Therapeutics to learn more about that.

Another part of the development method is making sure that the drug only contains the things that are meant to be there. In other words, the solution that's injected into patients must be free of any extra materials, especially any materials that could cause harm.

This is the field that another Birmingham biotechnology company specializes in: Innovation Depot-based company, BioDtech.

One very common but potentially harmful material are endotoxins.

Endotoxins are also called Lipopolysaccharides, but I'm not going to call them that here because I want you to keep reading. 

"Endotoxins" sounds like something The Scarecrow might threaten to unleash on Gotham, so we're going to go with that name.

In the real world, endotoxins are what makes up most (around 70%) of the outer 'shell' of Gram-negative bacteria.

Because the presence of endotoxins usually means the presence of bacteria, animal immune systems tend to freak out when they sense that they're around.

Most septic shock, in fact, happens because the immune system is overwhelmed by a rush of endotoxins, usually through an open wound of some kind. 

It goes without saying that we want to remove most if not all endotoxins from solutions that we inject into sick people, especially since they may have immune systems that are already compromised. 
If you're wondering why there's ever bacteria in or around drug solutions, it's because a lot of the proteins used to make the drugs are literally manufactured by bacteria. It's called recombinant protein and it's a pretty fascinating process. You should go read about it

Clearing these drug solutions of any endotoxins is a complicated and important process. some material separators get rid of a lot of them, but there are still some present, and that's where BioDtech comes into play. 

BioDtech has developed a "chromatographic media" that injectable drugs are filtered through, thereby removing endotoxins. 

Here's how it works: The company has on hand specially-made sugar pellets. Each pellet has a kind of rough spot that bonds well with particular molecules.

BioDtech has developed a molecule that will attach to these sugar pellets, but is also a perfect match for endotoxins. That is, this molecule is attractive to the chemical makeup of endotoxins and will attach to them if they are around.

A group of these sugar pellets - with molecules attached - is placed at the bottom of a syringe or IV drip so that the drug must flow through the field of endotoxin-attracting molecules before it goes into the patient.

How can they be sure that this process removes all of the endotoxins from the drug? Why, they use crab blood, of course! 

Horseshoe Crabs' blood contain things called amebocytes, which cause the blood to quickly clot in the presence of endotoxins. 

For this reason, all injectable drugs are tested with Horseshoe crab blood. That's a lot of blood. There's large-scale, but seemingly sustainable, harvesting going on around the East Coast. 

Their blood is baby-blue because of the presence of copper, which is interesting and kind of alien. They're an incredibly old species (450 million years or so) and definitely look the prehistoric part. 

Go read this excellent article on the mass blood harvest from The Atlantic a few months ago. 

I went to check out the BioDtech labs at Innovation Depot last week and met up with Dr. Keith Champion, BioDtech Director of Operations for a tour and explanation. 

You can see some pictures I took in the gallery above. 

"We're in the business of detecting and removing endotoxins from liquids." He told me. 
The company has three product lines available at the moment. 

Apart from the chromatographic media I talked about above, BioDtech also offers kits for detecting endotoxins in different environments. One is called EndoPrep, which will help researchers find endotoxins in protein and peptide samples. The other is ESP, which detects the presence of endotoxins in human blood plasma. 

With the award of a new NIH grant, the company has begun research on a round of assays involving the testing of human blood not just for the presence of endotoxins, but for the amount of endotoxins. 

They think that the level of endotoxins may be a reliable biomarker for some diseases. They've already looked at patients suffering from Crohn's Disease and are about to start testing with the HIV virus.   

Dr. Champion is very careful to point out, however, that the trials are still in the very early stages.

The company was drawn to Birmingham from Nashville several years ago by the Birmingham Technology Fund

You can go read more about BioDtech at www.biodtechinc.com

Source: http://www.al.com back

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Medical Device ® Positions New Leader for Next-Level Growth more

Oct 2014 |

The Xenex robot at South Shore Hospital featured on an Xploration Earth more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Germ-zapping robot Gigi sets its sights on Ebola more

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Morningside Ventures leads a Series B round for DNAtrix more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

StemBioSys secures new research space at BioBridge Global more

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Birmingham's Soluble Therapeutics acquires Seattle company Dilyx Biotechnology more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Company invents germ-zapping robot more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Xenex Congratulates Houston Cancer Hospital more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Australian grown Indian Sandalwood timber attracts lucrative Asian markets more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

DNATRIX ANNOUNCES TREATMENT OF FIRST PATIENT WITH DNX-2401 more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Targeted Technology raises more than $40 million more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs): Not All UV Light is the Same more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Bluegrass Vascular Technologies Names Dr. Gabriele Niederauer President And CEO more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

Three Birmingham companies recognized in PwC report more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

Former Kinetic Concepts Inc. CEO to lead StemBioSys more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

International dermatology company Galderma confirmed more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

AUSTRALIAN Sandalwood producer TFS Corporation will supply oil more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

San Antonio luring biotech firms with venture capital more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Biotech firm secures nearly $5 million in funding, is relocating to San Antonio more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Birmingham is on the front lines of medical research: take a look at this incredible biotech startup more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Germ-Zapping Robots Fight C. diff and MRSA at Mercy Health Saint Mary's more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Milford hospital enlists robots in war against infections more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Xenex Testifies About UV Room Disinfection Technology Effectiveness to U.S. House of Representatives more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Western Pa. hospitals test robot using ultraviolet rays to kill bacteria more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Xenex Demonstrates UV Room Cleaning System’s Effectiveness in Reducing Hospital Acquired Infections more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

TFS flags record full-year profit more

June 2014 | Download as pdf

Sweet scented sandalwood flavour of month more

June 2014 | Download as pdf

House committee looks for new technology in Veterans Affairs hospitals more

June 2014 | Download as pdf

FDA grants fast track status to drug DNX-2401 for recurrent Glioblastoma more

May 2014 | Download as pdf

CEO shakeup at San Antonio biotech company StemBioSys more

May 2014 | Download as pdf

First harvest to be completed in June more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

BiO2 Medical Enrolls Subjects in the New U.S. FDA Early Feasibility Pilot Study for the Angel® Catheter more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

San Antonio biotech firm readies skin treatment for distribution more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

ViroXis Gets Approval To Initiate FDA Phase 2 Study For Molluscum Contagiosum more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

Medical technologies conference announces speaker lineup more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

Australian sandalwood sells for millions more

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Sandalwood exports as good as gold more

Feb 2014 | Download as pdf

Santalis Pharmaceuticals Signs Exclusive License Agreement with Global Pharmaceutical Company to Commercialize OTC Dermatology Products more

Feb 2014 | Download as pdf

ViroXis Corporation Signs Exclusive License Agreement with Global Pharmaceutical Company to Commercialize an OTC Dermatology Product more

Feb 2014 | Download as pdf

DNAtrix Awarded $10.8 Million Grant by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas more

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ViroXis Corporation Achieves Key Clinical Milestones more

Jan 2014 | Download as pdf

There are growing concerns about the threat of an antibiotic crisis caused by the spread of drug-resistant superbugs. Those concerns could result in more